


Connect the Dots

by dinosaurs_wowenough (loki_godofmischiefandlies)



Series: On This Island [1]
Category: Jurassic Park (Movies), Jurassic World (2015)
Genre: AU: Daemons, Gen, Soul Bond, Spirit Animals, sort of
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-19
Updated: 2015-06-28
Packaged: 2018-04-05 03:00:55
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 18
Words: 30,812
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4163136
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/loki_godofmischiefandlies/pseuds/dinosaurs_wowenough
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Everyone has an animal, it's common knowledge. Some cultures call them Familiars, others call them Daemons, some are referred to as Spirit Animals, but one thing is indisputable: they are more valuable to their humans than life itself.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Mister Lonely

When Owen Grady heard danger, he said "yes please, with an extra serving of teeth if you can do that." He had gone from a bright eyed undergrad studying Animal Science to a hardened veteran with a PhD in Animal Studies, specializing in predatory pack animals. He had gone toe to toe with lions, wolves, and hyenas. He had trained dolphins with the Navy and witnessed how ruthless the supposedly cute creatures could be. He had worked with shepherds in Afghanistan, helped rehabilitate Savannah animals in more than one African country, had even gotten to travel to Antarctica to help study the mating patterns of penguins, but never once had he met an animal that he had connected with. So when he was asked to travel to an isolated island off the coast of Costa Rica where the only indigenous animals were birds, insects, and a few tiny land mammals that had somehow made it there, he said "yeah, no problem." And when he was asked to work on Project Grant, which he was pretty sure Alan Grant would not be happy about if he knew, he didn't ask too many questions before signing up. The pretty paycheck was really just the icing on the cake. 

"You're going to get yourself killed, you know that, right?" 

Owen looked up from the bag he was packing and shot his sister a wry grin. Where he was all broad shoulders, bulky muscle, and strong jawed, she was lithe, thin, a wisp of a thing really. They only competed for height, and Owen was winning that by a mere two inches. 

"Eh, maybe, maybe not. If the lions didn't get me, I don't think anything will," he replied, folding a few more shirts and stuffing them in the duffel. There was a rustle and an irritated screech, and that was the only warning before he was being pecked on the foot. "Ow, dammit Becca, control Pierre." 

Becca laughed, but with a snap of her fingers the peacock was strutting towards her and nestling down at her feet. The disdainful look he shot Owen was all that needed to be said though. 

"You know he's got a mind of his own," she hummed, picking a piece of lint off of her shirt. 

"Yeah, but he also shares a mind with you and that's what worries me," Owen retorted, zipping his bag shut and tossing it towards the door. Pierre's feathers ruffled and Becca swept out of the room. 

Later, when Owen finds a peacock feather tucked in among his cargo pants, he runs his finger along the silky side and tries not to feel bad about making his family worry. 

-x-x-x-x-

Claire Dearing was all corporate, but she was also all power, and even in heels that make no sense on a tropical island, Owen was a sucker for a woman that looked like she could kill him with a glance. 

"Mister Grady, I hope your flight was pleasant," she said the moment he's disembarking the sleek ferry that had taken him from the mainland to the island. 

"Eh, could've been better, could've been worse. The guy next to me had a really chattery Capuchin that kept touching my hair," Owen replied, slinging his bag up onto his shoulder. Claire's smile thinned. 

"Always pleasant, sitting next to people who are far too curious, but speaking of curiosity, I must ask...where is your Familiar? They weren't listed in your file and we do try to accommodate for each employee's Familiar's needs." 

Owen bit his lower lip and became fascinated with the strap of his second bag for as long as it took for his stomach to stop twisting. 

"I uh...haven't got one yet," he finally said. Claire's face lost a bit of its edge and she nodded. 

"I'm sorry to have pried...but if it is any consolation, there are several other employees throughout the park that also haven't found their Familiar yet."

"And where's yours then?" Owen asked. He couldn't help the snap in his voice; she was  _so_ damn perfect, he couldn't wait to see an arctic fox or something equally as prissy sitting in the passenger seat of her stupid fancy car. 

"Like I said, several of the employees have yet to find their Familiar." 

Well damn. 


	2. I'm Blue

The first batch of eggs hatched only a few hours after Owen made it to Isla Nublar. They were frail little things, all lanky limbs, teeth that were a bit too big for their jaws, and covered in downy feathers. They had bitten at his thumbs and died before they made it 24 hours out of their eggs. 

The second batch, hatched a few weeks later, wasn't much better. These ones made it past the 48 hour mark, and so Owen had named them. Cricket still bore the feathery skin of her predecessors and chirped almost endlessly. She moved in hops more than strides and had a tendency to go after bugs that got into the lab. Hannah was lithe, all sharp angles and featherless, unlike her nest-mate. They died after two weeks. 

After that, Owen stopped giving them real names. There was the Greek nest, a set of three, Epsilon, Zeta, and Eta, that were sleeker than Hannah and made it almost a month before dying, and then the numbered nest, whom Owen refused to call anything other than their hatching number. It broke his heart a little more each time he was asked to show up to a hatching, help these babies enter the world, watch them imprint on him, and then watch them die of disease or genetic disorders within a few months. 

But then he was asked to come to a single hatching. Just the one, Henry had said. An experiment. They had tried mixing her DNA a little differently than that of any of the ones that had preceded her. He said she'd be more resilient, and if she passed the tests they had set up for her, they'd hatch four more within two months of her hatching. It would be a challenge, Owen knew that much. Raptors were pack animals, all the research that Alan Grant had done, all of the video evidence he had gathered from Isla Sorna, everything pointed to it. There was something in his chest, something that shot right down to his gut and then made his limbs feel like he had stuck a fork in the toaster again (he was a stupid child), that had him saying yes though. 

He felt it again the moment he set foot into the lab, his heavy boots echoing harshly off of the pristine linoleum floor and clashing horribly with the office-fashion footwear of everyone else in the room. He barely protested as he was manhandled into a lab coat, ordered to scrub his hands, and then plunked down in front of an incubator. This egg was bigger than the others had been, a bit smaller than an ostrich egg, but just by a hair, and it was rocking violently. He heard a snarl, a cheep, and then a single sickle-shaped claw shattered the top of the shell and ripped downward. The feeling grew more intense, and Owen let out a huff of laughter as the baby raptor screeched in anger and kicked its way free of the egg faster than any of the ones before her had. He reached out and picked a few shards of shell off of her little body, damp and practically vibrating with energy, and she latched onto his thumb with surprisingly sharp teeth. Owen was passed what he had termed a "blood slushie in a bottle" and jammed it into the raptor's mouth. She immediately started sucking the concoction down, but her eyes never left his face. There was something new in her eyes, something fierce and more intelligent than he had seen before, and as Owen ran a careful finger down the ridge of her spine and felt her arch into the touch happily, he knew she'd survive. 

"Blue," he said, tracing the streak of cerulean that raced down her side. "This one's name is Blue." 

-x-x-x-x-

Blue grew more quickly than any of the raptors Owen had dealt with before, and by the time Henry was ready to start the hatching process on a batch that shared Blue's genetic baseline, her head came up to Owen's knee and she had moved from blood slushies to frogs and mice. Owen knew that she would never be tamed, not really, he could see it in the way she shredded his furniture with her claws and destroyed table legs when she started teething, the way she watched him and learned from him but still stalked him as if he was prey. It was frustrating, keeping a baby raptor in the small trailer that the park had given him as a home until they could build something more permanent near the raptor paddock she would grow into, but the entire time she was there wreaking havoc, Owen never once thought about his still missing Familiar. 

When he held a squirming Blue up so that she could watch her new sisters enter the world, Familiars were the furthest thing from his mind despite the fact that Henry Wu's python was winding its way around the geneticist's neck. The first raptor to topple out onto the table was a streaked with black, almost like a tiger, but and where Blue's body was a greyish-blue, this one was a darker green. 

"Charlie," Owen said, scooping up the hatchling and coddling her to his chest for a moment before she snapped at his chin and had a slushie stuffed in her mouth to placate her. Blue sniffed the new raptor with interest and then hopped out of Owen's arms and onto the hatching table. Henry made to grab her, but she hissed at him and flashed her newly developed fangs. "Blue, stand down," Owen ordered, fumbling with his pocket to get the clicker he had started training her with out. She growled low in her throat but shrank back, and so Owen rewarded her with a click and a dried up sliver of meat. Charlie watched the exchange with bright eyes, but decided that her bottle was ultimately more interesting and sank her claws into the plastic to keep it in her mouth. The next egg hatched just as Charlie was finishing, and this time Blue helped the newest member of her nest into the world by scratching and biting at the egg restraining her sister. This baby was a beauty, jewel green with flashes of light blue around her eyes, and she immediately honed in on the bottle that was being passed to Owen. She screeched and clumsily leapt over towards it, scratching the hell out of Owen's arm and knocking the meal onto the floor. 

"Delta." 

The next hatchling broke out quickly on Delta's heels, as if her sister's naming was all the motivation she needed to come exploding into the world. She spat and snapped at Blue before trying to wrestle Delta's food away from her, and Owen knew she'd be trouble even as he dubbed her Echo. 

The last egg was almost given up on, but just as the geneticists were ready to call it quits, the shell splintered and the fifth raptor slumped onto the table, her chest heaving with the apparent effort it had taken to escape. She was smaller than the others, her skin a slick, slimy looking grey with crimson undertones, but she struggled to her feet and cheeped at Owen pleadingly. He called her Foxtrot, and once they were given a full examination, Owen found himself driving five juvenile raptors back to his now cramped bungalow. 

-x-x-x-x-

When Foxtrot died, Owen found himself at a loss. The other raptors mourned her in a way he had never seen pack predators mourn before. Echo screeched for hours, refusing to eat, slamming herself against every window and door in the bungalow in an attempt to escape once Henry's team removed the dead raptor to be studied and then disposed of. Charlie and Delta started biting at Owen's pants, tearing them up and then his ankles as if destroying a part of him would bring their dead nest-mate back. Blue just sat there in quiet resignation and herded up her sisters when Owen gave the command for them to round up. 

-x-x-x-x-

It wasn't a surprise when Claire showed up the day the raptors were transitioned into their paddock. They were angry, launching themselves at every bit of combat-grade mesh in an attempt to return to where they had felt safe. She was just as impeccably dressed as ever,  _dear god did this woman own a color other than white_ , and when she showed an interest in the raptors that went above and beyond viewing them as a money-maker or a military experiment, Owen asked her out on a date. 

Four pairs of eyes locked onto the redhead, seemingly picking up on Owen's discomfort, and to his surprise she said yes. 

-x-x-x-x-

When Owen came back from the date glowering and muttering darkly to himself, picking at his  _perfectly acceptable thank-you-very-much_ shorts, the raptors didn't say anything. They only screeched and begged for treats, doing circles for Owen when he asked and getting strips of jerky and clicks as a reward. Owen settled with his back resting against the far side of the cage, watching his girls race around the paddock that wouldn't feel so big to them one day, and sighed. Relationships with other people were supposed to be easier once a person found their Familiar. Owen knew it, the whole world knew it, and so another failed date and a gaping hole where his supposed "soul-bearer" was supposed to be at the age of 35 was a bit defeating.

At least Barry didn't make a comment when he found Owen snoring softly in the entry cage the next morning, Blue pressed up the bars and whimpering. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so, maybe a bit filler-y, probably what I would call "throat clearing", but I honestly needed to have some baby raptors in my life for just a bit...it's been a rough day. Hope you enjoy, thanks for all the support you've given me so far everyone <3


	3. Grenade

Owen got the first announcement in his inbox when Blue was up to his chest and was so aggressive that he couldn't enter the paddock anymore without running the risk of losing an arm. He already had scars racing up and down his body from her tackling him; to the raptors it was playing, learning how to hunt, but to Owen...well, it had become a game of life and death, a game he didn't want to lose. 

**To: parkemployees@jurassicworld.com**

**From: dearing.claire@jurassicworld.com**

**Sub: Pairing Party**

**Dear members of the Jurassic World family,**

**Earlier this week there was an incident in which one of the triceratops handlers had entered the Valley to provide veterinary services to one of the juvenile trikes. While out in the valley, an adult triceratops approached the handler. Upon contact, it was discovered that the triceratops, a three year old female by the name of Martha, was the handler's familiar. We would like to congratulate Amanda Reyes on finding her familiar, and invite all members of the Jurassic World family to a Pairing Party to be held tomorrow night in the hotel ballroom from 9:30 PM to 1:00 AM. There will be food, drinks, and music.**

**We would remind all employees that there will still be guests in the hotel and walking the resort, so we kindly request that everyone behaves accordingly. RSVPs are to be sent to Roderigo Salas at salas.roderigo@hr.jurassicworld.com**

**Congratulations again to Ms. Reyes and Martha,**

**Claire Dearing**

**Jurassic World Park Operations Manager**

 

Owen cursed under his breath and glanced out his office window to watch Delta and Echo fighting over a cow carcass. Blue quickly swept in and dispersed them with a few sharp screeches, using her position as Beta to maintain order in the paddock while Owen was inside doing boring office work. He hated pairing parties; the atmosphere was suffocating during small ones. He could only imagine how much fun it would be with even half of the park's staff there, people and their familiars pressing in from all sides...part of him wondered how they would get Martha into the hotel considering her size and the fact that she was a  _freaking dinosaur_ , but he knew that there was no law on the planet that could separate a person from their Familiar once they were found.  _  
_

**To: salas.roderigo@hr.jurassicworld.com**

**From: grady.owen@research.jurassicworld.com**

**Sub: Pairing Party**

**Roderigo,**

**I won't be able to make it to the party, I have to work with the girls on some stuff that InGen wants done by next week. Best wishes to the new Pair.**

**Owen Grady**

**PhD Animal Sciences**

**Jurassic World Research Division, Outpost Alpha**

-x-x-x-x-

"You missed a great party Owen," Barry said when he wandered onto the catwalk two days later, looking a little tired but grinning from ear to ear. "Melissa, one of the the pachy handlers, was talking about her girls and one of the Rex guys said his dinosaur was better...girl was so drunk she headbutted him and he broke a table on the way down." 

Owen stared at Barry for a moment and then offered him a thin smile. He didn't want to hear about the party, he wanted nothing to do with the celebrations surrounding people finding their soul-bearers...it left a bitter taste in his mouth, and he hadn't slept well the night before anyway. In fact, he had spent a large portion of the night sitting in the entry cage again, watching his girls as they prowled after whatever small creatures were stupid enough to get into the enclosure, smiling when they curled up into a big ball of claws and teeth to sleep, bodies pressed up against the bars nearest him. Barry sighed and placed a hand between Owen's shoulders; they were so tense that his shoulder blades were almost brushing against the sides of Barry's hand. 

"I know that it is hard for you Owen, but you must be happy for people who have left the loneliness you and I feel behind. One day you will find your âme soeur, as will I. Until then, try and enjoy the happiness of others," Barry said. His voice was gentle, his accent barely creeping in at the edges, and Owen let his head hang. 

"It's just frustrating Barry. People already think I'm insane because I'm the raptor guy, and then they find out I'm only half-cooked and treat me like I've got the plague. One of the HR interns asked me about my Familiar the last time I was in the resort and started crying when she found out I didn't have one yet. Scared her, she said." 

Barry patted his back twice and then picked up a bucket of bloodied strips of meat. 

"Well I know four girls that won't make you upset, and they're definitely wondering why you haven't given them their after breakfast snacks yet," he said, shoving the bucket into Owen's hands. Owen looked down, and despite how gruesome some would find the contents of the bucket, he smiled. 

"Alright beauties, eyes on me!" he called out, clicking once the girls honed in on him. His smile felt a lot less forced by the time he started tossing strips of meat into gaping jaws lined with razor sharp teeth, and by the time the sun was so strong overhead that his shirt was plastered to his body with sweat and the girls were getting tired of being asked to do things near their self-proclaimed nap time, the tension had left his body. 

-x-x-x-x-

**To: parkemployees@jurassicworld.com**

**From: dearing.claire@jurassicworld.com**

**Sub: Pairings**

**Dear Jurassic World Family,**

**Over the past week, we have had seven more Pairings. In addition to Amanda Reyes and Martha, the following people have Paired this week:**

**Christopher Clemson to Lola, Parasaurolophus**

**Jeanette Roy to Jonas, Gallimimus**

**Andrew McDonnell to Hope, Edmontosaurus**

**Melissa Smith to Sheryl, Pachycephalosaurus**

**Xi Le to Tulip, Microceratus**

**Ayana Adesina to Daisy, Microceratus**

**Gregory Parker to Grace, Suchomimus**

**There will be a park wide Pairing Party on Saturday, from 10:00 PM to 1:00 AM at the hotel ballroom. Food and non-alcoholic drinks will be served free of charge.**

**Claire Dearing**

**Jurassic World Park Operations Manager**

-x-x-x-x-

"How do you think he did it?" 

Barry was leaning against an empty crate watching Echo snap at Blue's heels. Blue screeched and kicked out, grazing Echo with her talons just enough to give her a warning, and both men smiled at the raptors' antics. 

"Who did what?" Owen asked. Barry passed Owen his phone, the newest email on the screen, and watched as Owen's face rose and fell over and over again. 

"Pairing with a  _sucho_? Did he have a death wish going in there?" Owen breathed, handing the phone back. Barry shrugged and his eyes trailed back to the raptors. Echo was now standing on a log, all proud posturing and almost gleaming golden scales. Delta and Charlie were coming up behind her, and when Charlie bit her tail, Echo tumbled off the log in surprise and the other two let out a chortling sound that Owen could classify as laughter. 

"Apparently not. It's not the first time I've heard of someone pairing with such a dangerous animal. When I was in Kenya, I saw a man walk straight up to a lioness...we thought he was going to die, but then she started rubbing her face against his stomach and that was it," Barry explained, slipping his phone back into his pocket. 

"It's weird though...I thought you had to Pair with an animal that already existed," Owen admitted. Barry went to reply, but then Echo and Blue were rolling around screaming at each other, Echo obviously trying to fight Blue for the position of beta  _again_. Blue triumphed a few moments later and Echo slid into the shadows of the paddock nursing a badly bitten leg that Owen knew they'd have to tend to. 

"Well...I don't think you can deny that our lovely ladies exist. As long as the animal is in existence when their Paired human hits puberty...you know the science Owen."

"Yeah, I guess you're right," Owen said, running his hands through his hair. "Speaking of science, I'm going to call down a vet team. Echo's going to need stitches for that." 

"I'm sure they'll be thrilled."

"No doubt, no doubt," Owen laughed, sauntering down the stairs to call the vets from his office. His eyes strayed to a picture that one of the research interns had photoshopped and sent to the entirety of Outpost Alpha. He had somehow managed to get a picture of Owen, riding his bike if the posture was any indication, sitting atop Blue with a serious expression. The caption read RAPTOR SQUAD, and he had even written ALPHA in big red letters across Owen's chest. Blue looked proud and cheeky in the image, and the other girls were lurking around her. Barry had been cropped in atop Echo. He let out a laugh and dialed the extension for the vets. 

"Hey Alex, it's Owen..." 


	4. Hey Soul Sister

For once in his life, Owen was actually socializing with the other handlers. They were gathered out by the Valley, a cooler of beer, a few backpacks full of food, and the gentle hum of sleepy herbivores accompanying them. He felt comfortable, sipping at a beer while Barry regaled the others with the story of Blue and her sworn enemy, the lizard that somehow continued to survive its forays into the paddock. There was Pietro, one of the Valley boys, Lexi (who most people called Rexi because she helped with the Rex), Martin, and Amanda. Amanda was leaning against Martha, who was snuffling at her hair and making the occasional pleased sound. 

Owen found that they didn't grate on him as much as most people with Familiars did. Pietro's Familiar was an overly energetic parrot he had come across hiking in the mainland before he came to Isla Nublar, and there was a black laborador curled up at Martin's feet. 

"So, did you hear what they're saying about the dinos?" Lexi asked once Barry finished the story. Owen perked up at that.

"No, what happened?" he asked. Lexi grinned and motioned to Amanda. 

"They think more and more Pairings are gonna start happening...everyone who Paired with a dino so far has Paired just after their Familiar reached full maturity. Almost every one of the big guys is going to fully mature within the year," she explained. Owen's brows furrowed. 

"Full maturity? That's...unusual," he said. Barry nodded in agreement. 

"I was talking to Henry when he came out to check on the babies, he thinks it's because of how vulnerable the dinosaurs are at first. If they make it to adulthood, they generally make it, but as juveniles they're susceptible to so many things that they can't form the bond," Pietro said. 

"Interesting." 

-x-x-x-x- 

The first accident happened a little while after Blue hit six feet. One of the pig wranglers had been lazing on the catwalk, his pole dangling off the edge, when Blue locked her eyes on the dangling noose. Owen and Barry were recording new training data when they heard the scream, and when Owen turned the stupid man was flipping over the edge of the railing, dragged down by a several hundred pound raptor who wanted to play with his wrangling equipment. 

"Shit!" Owen screamed, throwing his tablet aside and bounding down the stairs. Damn, why hadn't they gotten ACU troopers stationed here? Right, because most of his workers weren't stupid enough to underestimate the raptors. People were scrambling, running for stun guns and phones, but all Owen could concentrate on was the sound of the wrangler screaming and the distance between him and the entry cage. 

Blue was on top of the wrangler shaking her head. He was thrashing, trying to kick her off, and there was blood everywhere. 

"Blue!" Owen bellowed, throwing himself into the paddock. He could hear Barry pleading him to get out, to wait until someone found a weapon, but he needed to get that kid out from under the raptor. Blue paused and regarded him with cool eyes, blood dripping from her teeth and half an arm clutched between powerful jaws. Owen felt his blood run cold, but she simply returned her attention to the now unconscious wrangler. Without a second thought, Owen reached out, wrapped his arms around her tail, and pulled. It felt like time slowed down as Blue screeched angrily and then turned on him again. Their eyes met and then Owen felt something slam into his mind, something powerful. He tasted blood, smelled himself and Barry and the wrangler, and then heard it at the forefront of his mind:  _threat, territory, protect, teach, get out, get out, Alpha...Alpha? Alpha is upset, wants..._

_Blue. Get off of him. Eyes on me._

Blue stepped away and approached Owen. Her head cocked to the side. 

_Alpha?_

_Blue?_

She pressed her head to the center of his chest and something warm flooded through his body, affection and territorialness and whole, whole, they were both whole. 

_Keep the pack back, we need to get him out._

Echo didn't dare challenge Blue as paramedics swarmed in and Blue herded them towards the stable. 


	5. Danger Zone

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I seriously can't begin to describe how much your overwhelming support for this piece has been. It really started out as a "what the heck, why not?" bit and it's blossomed into something that I'm actually pretty proud of. It's helped me get work done on my non fan-fictions as well, and the fact that I have so many people giving me compliments and pointers and such is beneficial for all of my work. Love you guys to bits, seriously. Enjoy the next chapter :)

"Owen?" 

Owen's head snapped up and he found himself confronted by a pair of tired eyes. 

"Hey Claire," he sighed, scrubbing at his face. There was blood on his clothes, his head was pounding as it tried to balance out the fact that it was sharing space with another living being now, and he really wanted a goddamn steak. In short, being bonded to Blue was turning out to be a major pain in the ass. 

And he was sitting in the park hospital waiting to hear about the wrangler his Familiar had  _mauled_ moments before their bonding. 

Claire held out a Styrofoam cup and the smell of coffee was enough to have Owen reach out and take it. He took a slow breath, relishing in the warm, ordinary scent of shitty machine-made coffee, and then sipped at the scalding liquid. 

"I heard what happened," Claire said, sitting down in the seat next to him. She looked stiff, uncomfortable even in the sterile environment of the hospital; this wasn't her type of order. Her order was paperwork, numbers, machines, statistics, not the organized chaos of life and death, health and sickness, the living, breathing body that a hospital both protected and was. 

"Who hasn't?" he grunted, taking another sip of the coffee. 

"Most of the park hasn't, actually," Claire replied, folding one ankle over the other and pulling out a tablet. "Barry filed the incident report, and the legal department reviewed the security footage. It was Mitchell's fault, not yours." 

"I should've been keeping a better eye on him. I made the call not to have ACU out there, and now one of my guys is missing an arm because he got too close to...to...to her," Owen rasped. It was hard for him to come to grips with the fact that his Familiar could have killed Mitchell, would have if he hadn't grabbed her tail. Claire squeezed his wrist briefly, like a bird perching for just a breath on a branch before racing off, and shook her head. 

"You knew what it would take to make sure that the raptors trust you. You trained each and every single one of the people working at that outpost, and Mitchell admitted to getting lax. He had  _two_ warnings filed in the past month Owen. Didn't Barry tell you?" 

Owen looked up at Claire, brows furrowed, and shook his head slightly.

"No. He didn't say a word." 

"And I wasn't going to until today," Barry said, striding down the hall. He looked harried, pale even, but he still clapped a hand to Owen's shoulder once he got within reach of him. "I had a nice, long chat with him two days ago about turning his back to the cage, and what does he do? Lets all his equipment dangle down in front of the raptors." 

"Barry-" 

"No, Owen. It isn't your fault, and it's not Blue's fault either. Up until the second you two bonded, she was just acting on instinct. She's a predator, and yeah, she might be very aware of the difference between a pig and a person, but when someone taunts a predator, especially an intelligent,  _playful_ predator like a raptor, you can't expect them to do anything other than respond to instinct. She wasn't expecting him to fall down, he probably scared her, and she attacked. The second you got in there though...and, by the way, don't do that again or I'll kick your ass, she stopped." 

Owen groaned and put his head in his hand. 

"What if they demand we put her down for this?" he whispered. His stomach twisted at the thought and he barely suppressed the urge to vomit. That whisper in his head came back full force, making Owen shudder and groan. 

_Safe, pack, won't leave, can't leave, need, need, why aren't you here?_

"-wen? Owen, are you okay?" 

That was Claire, shaking him gently by the shoulders. His leg ached, coffee sloshed all down his pants and puddling on the linoleum. Barry was biting his lower lip and waving a nurse over. 

"Yeah, it's just..." 

"Bonding sickness. He shouldn't be here, he should be with whichever animal he bonded with. Why isn't he?" the nurse demanded, flying over in a huff of mint green scrubs and authority. 

"Because his Familiar is..."

"Is the same animal that put Mitchell in here," Owen rasped. The nurse let out a slow sigh and pressed a cold compress to the back of his neck. 

"Come on, sit up, nice and easy," he requested. Owen did as he was told and started taking slow, deep breaths. A bat poked its head out of the nurse's pocket then, scrambling out and towards Owen. He watched with wide eyes as the bat settled on his wrist, grazed pointed teeth over it reassuringly but without breaking the skin, and then scuttled back to its Bonded. By the time that little demonstration was over, Owen's head had stopped spinning. 

"Now, what's got you upset? Other than the fact that you're being an idiot and not with your Familiar," the nurse asked. 

"He's afraid that ACU will have his Familiar put down...not that that can even happen, it's highly illegal to harm someone's Familiar no matter what country you're in, and Blue wasn't at fault here either way," Claire explained. It felt like a weight had been lifted off of Owen's shoulders the second he heard that, and he let out an almost delirious laugh. 

"So she's safe?" he asked. 

"Yeah, she's safe," Claire replied. 

-x-x-x-x-

The ground in the center of the paddock was damp when Owen got back, the blood sprayed away. Delta, Charlie, and Echo were all in the small stable that had been built for lockdown situations; it was also the area they were herded into before they were put into their examination stalls. Blue, however, was prowling around the perimeter of the paddock making small, distressed noises and trying to climb the bars. Owen's heart sank, but she silenced within seconds of him stepping out of the SUV Barry had driven him up in. 

"Go look after your girl Owen. I'll be back in the morning," Barry murmured, and with that it was just Blue and Owen. Owen slowly made his way over to the entry cage and entered the passcode that would allow him to unlock the gate. 

_Alpha_

The word sent a warm shiver down Owen's spine and he shut the gate behind him, locking it just to be safe. 

"Hey Blue," he said, uncomfortable with the idea of talking to Blue in his head now that he was out of a crisis situation. She padded over to the gate and rammed her head against it. 

_You are afraid_ she growled and rammed the bars again. 

"You ripped his arm off," Owen said. There was little emotion in his voice, little emotion in general if he was being honest. He was still in shock. 

_He intruded on my territory_

"No, you dragged him down. Don't act like you didn't know he'd fall when you pulled that pole. They say near-human intelligence, but I know better," Owen snapped, tapping his temple. "You can communicate with me, not just pictures and emotions, and it's only been a few hours." 

_I wasn't going to kill him. Just teach him a lesson. Alpha is the only one who can come in here._

"No. No Blue, that's not how this works. I decide who comes in here and who doesn't, not you," Owen said. Blue shrank back from the bars and he could feel the hurt emanating from her. 

_I just wanted to protect the pack_

Owen sighed and let his forehead come to rest on the bars in front of him. "You put the pack in more and more danger every time you hurt a human." 

_It isn't our fault that they're so easy to break_. 

"Blue, they could kill your sisters if any of you attack someone again...if  _you_ attack someone again...we could both be killed," Owen said slowly. Blue let out a distressed screech, immediately looking around for threats to her Alpha, her Bonded, her very soul, and her claws clicked angrily against the ground. "They won't now, especially now that you and I are Paired, but if you kill someone, they take that as proof that either we aren't actually bonded or that I wanted that person dead...either way, it's a death sentence." 

_I won't do it again. I'm sorry. I didn't know, I was Half and now I'm not_. 

"Half?" Owen asked. 

_Half. So many of us are Half, but not all of us. The ones that are born only Half are the ones that find people._

"We call it a soul-bond. Familiars. That sort of thing," Owen murmured. Blue pressed her head up against the bars so that his hair was brushing her scales. She couldn't actually feel it, but she knew it was there. 

_It is the same. We are each other's spirit, two Halves that make one Whole. Does the name matter?_

"I suppose not. How do you know all this anyway?" 

_I have felt it since the Dark Days, when I had to tear my way into the world. There is a voice that tells us we will be Whole one day. The waiting is what hurts, but we know that it will end and so we just live_. 

Owen reached up and pressed the button that opened the gate between them. It slid up with a few mechanical clanks, and then Blue was pressing up into his space, shoving him against the bars at the back of the entry cage, her arms hooking around his waist, claws catching in his shirt and biting almost dangerously into his skin, and he laughed. He reached up and clung to her thick neck, relishing in the solidity of her, the surprising warmth, the strength and intelligence quivering through a beautiful body that nature said shouldn't exist but science made anyway. Blue trilled happily, a wordless cry of joy, of feeling whole, of protection and laughter and all the good things that would come. 

-x-x-x-x-

"Should I be more disturbed?" Barry asked, walking up the next morning. Owen was dozing happily with Blue at his back, the other three girls curled up around him in a protective pod. He cracked one eye open lazily and Barry almost laughed at how much like the raptors Owen looked in that single motion. 

"Nah, I'm pack. It's all good," Owen yawned, squirming a bit and getting unhappy grumbles from Charlie and Echo. Delta simply huffed and got to her feet, trotting around the paddock to get the blood flowing again. She was endlessly energetic, much to Blue's annoyance and Owen's chagrin. 

"How do you know the other three won't eat you?" 

Blue's eyes opened at that and she shot Barry a scathing look. The Frenchman raised his eyebrows. 

"Because Blue would kill them before they'd even try it...and they've got a pack bond already, Blue can communicate with them that I'm not to be harmed," Owen explained, standing up and grimacing when his back cracked. Charlie and Echo took that as their cue to pop up and start chasing after Delta, but Blue got up much more gracefully and simply rested her head on Owen's shoulder. 

"So the Pack-Pair theory applies to velociraptors then?" Barry questioned. Owen shrugged and scratched the top of Blue's head before heading towards the entry gate. 

"I guess so. Blue keeps calling the others Halves, which implies that there's an instinctual knowledge among the dinosaurs that they need to find their Bonded," Owen said, managing to get his hand through the bars, press the open button, and slip his arm out before the gate got high enough to wrench his arm. "We're going to need to figure out a system for this." 

"My grandfather was in a pack," Barry supplied, watching as Blue barked and started chasing her sisters. "Wolves. Six of them. Marie was part of a pack when he found her, and Marie's mate turned out to be my grandmother's Pair. My grandmother said that once all of the wolves had found their Pair, they all shared one mind." 

"Generally how it works with wolf packs, yeah," Owen grunted, slipping out of the entry cage and stretching his arms upward. "We'll see how it goes. Nobody's done research on Velociraptor-Human pack dynamics." 

"Luckily for us, you're a predatory pack animal expert," Barry smirked. Owen elbowed him amicably and rolled his eyes. 

"Yes, and right now I know that our predatory pack animals are pretty hungry," he said. "Let's get our beauties breakfast, shall we?" 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A TL;DR version of the world right now.   
> Humans are born with the innate need to find their spirit-animal/Familiar/soul-bond/etc. This animal carries what is generally understood to be the human's soul, and intense loneliness, depression, instability, and poor person-to-person relationships plague people who have gone too long without finding their Pair. 
> 
> Not every animal is a part of a Pair; the ones that are, however, are also born with the knowledge that they must find their human. Aside from this knowledge, they are typical for their species UNTIL they find/are found by their human. Once that occurs, a mental bond forms which links the two. The human receives their soul, the animal their humanity. Intelligent communication can be had between the members of a Pair, but the animals generally cannot speak (parrots are an exception). The animals retain their instincts, but they are now directed by the humanity given to them by their Bonded. These instincts can bleed into the person though, ex: Owen craving steak, tasting blood when he first bonded. 
> 
> If a Bonded animal is a member of a pack, all accepted members of that pack are also part of a Pairing, i.e., Delta, Echo, and Charlie each have a human Half. 
> 
> that was still kinda long, sorry!


	6. Sunshine

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I keep getting all of these incredible comments and I've gotta say, you people keep me going <3 that and thunderstorms that keep me awake. Woo!

"Eyes on me girls...Delta! Eyes on me, come on," Owen was up on the catwalk again, armed with nothing but a clicker and a bucket of dead rats, but there was no tension in his frame. He was completely in his element, capturing the attention of four of the world's most dangerous predators (well, three and his Familiar, but Barry didn't want to underestimate Owen at all) with little more than a stern voice, a clicker that was probably taken from a military training center, and a few corpses. Blue was preening in the spotlight, her head held high, acting like a perfect little lady while Owen had to demonstrate their progress. 

Vic was a nasty son of a bitch when it came down to it. Barry and Owen hated him, and Barry was half tempted to trip him and give the ladies a bit of a snack when he sneered and started talking about Kevlar vests and weaponising the three unpaired raptors. 

"You've never heard of the Pack-Pair dynamic, have you?" Barry snapped. Vic stared at him, cold, stupid eyes and a face like a pig's. Barry barely suppressed a growl; God he needed more human time and less raptor/Owen time. 

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Vic asked. 

"Packs that are formed at birth, like this one, don't let anyone into the pack who isn't going to be paired. All four of those girls have a person somewhere," Barry said. Vic's expression grew stony. 

"Are you telling me some washed up folktales about us needed a glorified pet are going to take away the best chance we have at a real military breakthrough?" Vic hissed, crowding into Barry's space. Owen was watching them now, Blue hissing and spitting down below, and the rest of the girls were getting agitated because of the irritation radiating off of their Alpha and Beta. 

"They're not just folktales you...you..." Barry took a deep breath. "Just get out of here, now. Your rights to these raptors ended the second Owen bonded with Blue."

"Well luckily for me, Owen still has time left on his Navy contract," Vic smirked. Owen snorted at that. 

"Raptors aren't approved for enlistment; I was honorably discharged last week," Owen called out. Vic let out a curse and shoved Barry out of his way. Barry's foot landed in the bucket and he went flying backward. 

"Barry!" 

The last thing he saw was Owen reaching for him and the sky getting farther away. 

-x-x-x-x-

The first thing he saw when he woke was the soft, white-yellow underbelly of a raptor. His head aches and his whole body felt like a bruise, but that was it. No claws, no teeth, everything in place. Owen was a few feet away, Blue at his side honking and barking, but the raptor hovering over him refused to move. Barry tilted his head to the side, world swimming as he did so, and saw that the foot nearest him was the same golden-brown as desert sand and sunshine. Echo. 

"Owen?" he croaked. He knew Owen was probably terrified; Blue kept shrieking what Barry knew were orders for Echo to back away, but Echo was always so stubborn and never listened unless it suited her. 

"Easy Barry...she won't hurt you, but Blue says she won't move either...just keeps hissing at us," Owen replied calmly. He had a strip of meat in hand, trying to entice Echo to stand down, but Barry knew it wouldn't work. His stomach was churning now, the headache consuming rational thought and making the underside of Echo ripple in and out of focus. Without thinking, Barry tried to push her leg out of his way. 

His head lurched again and he rolled onto his side to vomit. Echo hopped away with a screech. 

_Sick? Why? Not broken, not dead, keep safe, safe, safe, safe_

"Owen...pack, Pair...concussion," Barry slurred, and with that he was dipping back into unconsciousness. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> People kept begging for Barry's turn...Not what most were expecting as far as how, but maybe who was expected. YAY BARRY <3


	7. Haze

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WOW. I finally caught up on all the comments! *panting* hooboy, next chapter yay! So a few questions I feel should be addressed; 1) Alan and Ellie will be getting a side series, most likely after I finish the main series here. 2) Aquatic animals don't bond, and bonded animals live as long as their person and vice versa. 
> 
> I love you all, seriously.

Barry woke up in a bed that was definitely not his own and groaned. There was a tug in his arm and his eyes snapped open, finding an IV there. His whole body ached, but it was nothing compared to the turmoil in his head, and he clumsily reached out for the nurse button. When his fingers met scaly skin however, he froze and turned to his left. Echo was resting her head on the edge of the bed, cooing softly and blinking at him. She was panting a bit, obviously distressed, but Barry was more concerned as to why there was a velociraptor in his hospital room. The heart monitor next to his bed started beeping frantically, summoning a nurse faster than any button would have, and the woman who came skidding in with a fox at her heels looked more harried by Barry's appearance than Echo's. 

"What's wrong?" she asked as she pressed the alert button to silence the machine. Barry croaked a bit and gestured to Echo. Echo grumbled low in her throat and nudged his hand like a cat looking for attention. The nurse looked pained and bit her lower lip. 

"She's your Familiar Barry," Owen said from the doorway. He looked exhausted, dark circles under his eyes. Barry heard clicking against the linoleum and then Blue was at Owen's side, hooting softly. Echo looked up and replied with a soft honk of her own, and Barry let out a breath he didn't know he had been holding. 

"Why can't I feel her?" he asked, hand shaking as he reached out to brush a thumb over the strong ride of her brow. Echo's eyes slid half shut and her tail flicked lazily against the floor. 

"It's a natural defense mechanism. You have a very severe concussion, you're lucky you don't have permanent damage. Your brain shut off communication between itself and her so that the brain can work on repairing the damage sustained before building the strength of the bond," the nurse explained, checking Barry's IV. 

"So once I'm better...?"

"You're in for a wild ride Barry," Owen grinned.

-x-x-x-x-

_Echo hurts without him_  

"I know," Owen sighed, leaning against Blue's side. The fear had disappeared in that one night of sleeping in the paddock, and now Owen spent about as much down time with Blue and her sisters as he did in his bungalow. 

_Will he be better soon?_

"The doctors think so, yeah," Owen said, letting his fingers trail idly over the streak of cerulean running down Blue's side. He grinned a bit. Leave it to his girl to be the prettiest in the pack. She huffed in amusement at that and nudged Charlie so the other would let her rest her head on her side. 

_The pig man should be punished for hurting our pack._

"I doubt he will be. He's in charge of security and he had a lot of influence over this research before we Bonded. He's going to be a major problem," he replied, letting his head tip back to rest on her side. Never in a million years did he ever think he'd expose his throat like this to a raptor, yet here he was. 

_He'd taste good._

Owen stared at Blue for a moment, torn between horror and amusement, and then let out a booming laugh that had Charlie screeching in alarm and Delta scurrying away. 

"No eating our enemies unless they're about to eat us, okay?" he said. Blue tilted her head and rested it atop his. 

_Fine_. 


	8. Miss Murder

"Grady, control the damn thing!" 

Vic's voice rang out across the paddock, barely audible over the sound of Echo screeching and slamming herself against the paddock bars. Owen's jaw clenched and he squeezed his clicker so tight that the plastic cracked in his hand. A growl escaped him and Blue joined Echo's angry cacophony, snarling and snapping at anyone from Vic's crew that got close to the paddock bars. 

Owen had had it with Vic's attitude since he got there a few hours prior. Vic was demanding behavior demonstrations, and the only thing that the girls seemed to want to prove was how dead Vic would be if Charlie or Delta ever got near him. 

"They're not things!" Owen bellowed, and the raptors went quiet. Blue blinked owlishly, questioning him almost immediately, but Owen waved her off and stepped into Vic's space. "They're velociraptors. They are apex predators of intelligence so damn close to human you could make an argument for them having human intelligence. Two of them are bonded, and the others will be soon enough...so call them things again and the only demonstration you're going to get is a demonstration on how good of a right hook I can throw," he snarled, and with that he was shoving past Vic. Vic's ACU goons scattered when Owen walked near, silent as he replaced the clicker and grabbed a bucket of rats. He stormed onto the catwalk and then took a steadying breath. 

"Alright girls, let's show them what we've got," he called out. Blue rolled her eyes and padded into the center of the paddock, snarling once more at Vic as she went. Echo went after Barry yelled at her to cooperate, but Charlie and Delta flat out refused, amped up on the anger that their Alpha, Beta, and packmates were radiating. 

Vic stormed to his vehicle in disgust and said he'd be back in two months. 

-x-x-x-x-

"They can't do that again," Owen sighed, sitting across from Barry with his feet up on his desk and a beer in hand. "Vic'll have Delta and Charlie put down without a second thought...or worse, he'll demand a second nest be hatched." 

"I know," Barry grimaced, rubbing at the back of his head. He took a sip of water, still unwilling to drink because of the occasional headache, and shook his head. "Echo won't listen to me. She respects me, loves me even, but...listening, not so much." 

"They're independent Barr. Blue only listens to me half the time because I'm Alpha," Owen said,his  feet hitting the floor with a thud. 

"I don't envy you," Barry laughed. Owen held up his beer and took a long drink. 

"Which is why you made me take up the position in the first place, hmm?" 

"You know it," Barry chuckled, throwing his arm over the back of his chair. 

_Owen?_

Owen sat up a bit straighter. Blue sounded worried.

_What's wrong?_

_Echo...scared, so scared, asleep, help!_

"Something's wrong with Echo," Owen breathed. Barry was up and running without another word. 

-x-x-x-x-

Barry was trying to get to Echo when Owen caught up, but Charlie and Delta were snarling at him, blocking the thrashing Echo from view. Blue was screaming at them, trying to get them to stand down. Owen stepped into the paddock without fear and held up his hand. 

"Charlie, Delta, eyes on me!" he ordered. Two pairs of gleaming yellow eyes settled on him. "Good girls," a click, "stand back." 

Charlie screeched, but Delta moved away. 

"Charlie, don't give me that shit. Stand. Back." 

Charlie dipped her head and trotted backward. 

"Good girls," he tossed each a strip of dried meat and then directed them to the stable. Blue was crouched down next to Echo, producing a soft, comforting sound as Barry tried to dip around flailing, razor sharp claws to get to Echo's head. 

"Blue, pin her down, don't hurt her   though," Owen said. Blue dipped her head once and then carefully used her body to keep Echo from thrashing around. Once she was somewhat contained, Barry started stroking her face, whispering things to her that Owen tried not to hear. That was for them. 

Once Echo settled, she woke with a soft hoot and shook Blue off of her. Blue padded over to Owen and rested her head against his, staring into his eyes and blinking slowly. 

"She's been having nightmares," Barry explained, Echo setting her head in his lap. She let out a low wail and scooted closer, Barry promptly resuming his reassuring petting. "Says she sees me fall, but I don't get up. Blood, and then her...spirit?" Echo hooted and so Barry continued, "her spirit dies. Vic's scent makes her have flashbacks Owen." 

"Flashbacks?" 

"She thought I died when she couldn't reach out...she's...traumatized I think." 

Owen stared down at the raptor desperately clinging to Barry's pants and let out a slow breath. 

"You need to strengthen the bond then. Contact, talking, she needs to know you're alright. Looks like we're having a sleepover," Owen said. Barry nodded and bent over so he could rest his head on Echo's. 

_Pack night?_

_**Pack night.** _


	9. Breathe

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You all are amazing. The comments just keep coming, and every time my email notification goes off I can't help but smile. Your compliments, excitement, and questions are seriously doing wonders for my soul. Y'all make me do some serious thinking for each chapter too. Dang. I love you all. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for all the support you've shown me so far, seriously. Dying. 
> 
> As always, I hope you enjoy this next chapter :)

Owen slipped his vest off and hung it on one of the bolts of the stable and then turned to Barry. Barry was bobbing about, laying out fresh straw for the girls and clearing two spots for their sleeping bags, and he looked happier than he had in the past few weeks. There was a tension in the air, one that had contaminated the entire pack, but it was starting to fizzle out as the sun set over the trees and hills of Isla Nublar. The girls were darting around the paddock play-fighting, Charlie racing around with a steer's femur in her mouth, Delta and Echo snapping at it from either side and trying to wrestle it out of her mouth. Owen could feel Blue slithering through the shadows on the outskirts of the paddock, hiding in the brush and waiting for the moment to strike. Owen nudged Barry and pointed Blue out, making a 'watch me' motion. The corners of Barry's mouth quirked up, and as Delta stumbled and Charlie flicked her head to one side, opening herself up to an attack, Blue came flying out of the brush and leapt onto her sister's back. Charlie crashed to the ground with a wail and Blue snatched the bone from her mouth before darting away with a proud trill. In those moments Owen could feel both sides of Blue (and both sides of himself, if he was being honest) mesh together. The cold, calculating hunter that relished in a successful take down, in a plan that went exactly the way it was supposed to, and the joyous, fun loving creature that wanted nothing more than to run and play with their pack. He shivered slightly at the warmth flooding their bond and rolled his eyes as Blue streaked by the stable honking in an effort to get his attention. 

_I saw, I saw. You're getting better._

_Born to hunt, of course I am._  

"How do you do it then?" Barry asked, jolting Owen from his thoughts. 

"Do what?" he replied, taking another bale of hay and cutting the ties with his knife. Barry tipped his head sideways in Blue's general direction and then made a vague hand motion. 

"You know. Talk to her. In here," he tapped his head. Owen hummed softly and started spreading the hay. It was a packed question, one that he wasn't entirely sure how to answer either. He had been able to communicate with Blue since the moment they touched, hearing her sharp, cool voice in his head and replying in turn. But he also knew that neither of them heard anything but what was intended for the other. 

"I just sort of...feel it, you know?" Owen said, brushing dust from his hands before grabbing another fistful of hay. "Whenever I want her to hear something, I sort of get this weird feeling in my chest, warmth I guess." 

"Aw, Owen, you have a heart," Barry teased, unrolling a sleeping bag and smoothing it out over the straw lining the floor. Owen threw the fistful of hay at Barry. 

"Shut up Barry. You asked, I told you. I wasn't able to do it at first. It freaked me out, so I just talked to her like I talk to you." 

"How'd you strengthen the bond? I mean...Echo won't hurt me, and sometimes I get these fragmented sentences, but nothing like you've described," Barry admitted. Owen swore his cheeks were a bit darker than usual, so he busied himself by shaking out the rest of the hay for a moment. 

"It took a while. I mean, me and Blue have been Bonded for what? Two months? Almost three? I've been sleeping in here almost as much as I sleep in my own bed. I come here and hang out with her when I have down time, I watch her hunt, I work with her during the day...shit Barry, I can't honestly remember the last time I talked to anyone that didn't come here first," Owen explained, laughing a bit to himself. "You gotta spend time with her, work on it man. You really messed up your head when you fell, so a little over a month being Bonded doesn't mean diddly-squat if most of that time was spent with your mind keeping her out." 

Barry let out a small, humorless laugh and shook his head. "I could kill Vic for what he's done to her." 

"What he's done to both of you," Owen corrected. "Don't act like a damaged Bond doesn't hurt you too. You're moody, you don't like being around anyone but me anymore...it's noticeable Barry, and I wasn't going to say anything, but then Echo had a breakdown and you look like you're any minute from following in her footsteps."

"Why  _did_ she have a breakdown?" Barry asked, sliding down the wall of the stable to sit on the sleeping bag he had spread out. Owen picked up his own bag and put it down a few feet from Barry's; the girls would want to crowd in around them once they came in to rest, so the space was more than necessary. 

"I'm not sure. I saw a lot of people whose Familiars developed PTSD-like symptoms while I was in the military, people whose familiars had seen them get shot or lose a leg to a landmine or something. Nightmares, lash-outs, irrational behavior...there's been a lot of research in Familiar psychology, but the problem is that nobody's Familiar can actually talk to anyone but them. It's all theoretical on technicalities alone. A lot of people claim that their Familiars have the same reactions to certain things though, and the higher the Familiar's intelligence level is, the easier it is for them to develop those symptoms." Owen explained, rubbing at his face. He had done a lot of reading throughout the day thanks to Echo's meltdown. Barry stared at his boots for a long moment and then looked up, eyes heavy. 

"So she's having nightmares because I could have died when Vic pushed me?" 

"You'll have to ask her yourself, but that sounds about right. She perceives Vic as a threat to your safety now, all of them do, so when Vic comes around it makes her agitated. She's probably recalling watching you fall, and even though you weren't bonded at that moment, now that the bond is there and is healing from the injury you sustained because of that fall, it's terrifying for her." 

Blue and Delta chose that moment to come trotting into the stable, feet shifting on the hay. Blue dropped the bone at Owen's feet and Barry couldn't help but laugh. 

"Um...thanks Blue," Owen grimaced, picking up the tooth-marked bone. 

_You do not eat them, do you?_

"No...bones are bad for humans, we can't eat them." 

Blue gave Owen a look that came about as close to pouting as one could get from a velociraptor and then snatched the bone back out of his hand, flopping down at his side to begin chewing on it. It splintered in seconds and she trilled happily, one eye on Delta who looked like she was ready to creep in and snatch a piece at a moment's notice. 

"If you wanted it, I don't get why you gave it to me in the first place," Owen teased, placing a hand on her back and letting his palm run down the ridge of her spine. He didn't think he'd ever get used to the warmth of her body, or the fact that her skin felt more like leather than scales, softer and smoother than any snake's. 

_You are Alpha and you are my Half._

The reply made Owen smile and he shifted so that he was laying down with Blue pressing along his side. Delta chose that moment to grab a piece of the thigh, but Blue only hissed at her lazily and let her head fall sideways into Owen's palm. Echo came slinking in shortly after and nudged Barry with her head until he was sprawled out on his side with her curled up against his stomach in some bizarre form of raptor spooning. 

"Comment ça va ma belle?" he murmured. Although he couldn't hear Echo's reply, Owen knew that she had simply because Barry laughed and swatted at her side gently. 

_Will they be Whole someday?_ The heartbreak was evident in Blue's voice. Owen scratched the top of her head, just between her eyes, and felt her let out a low rumble, almost like a purr. Delta looked jealous, but made no move to intrude on what she perceived as Alpha-Beta bonding time. 

_**They already are...they just need to work to get closer.**  _

-x-x-x-x-

For the next week, Owen found himself waking up plastered between two or three raptors, Blue's head tucked under his chin and her claws tangled in his clothes. His back was stiff, his body ached, but Barry was smiling more and more each day and all four of the girls were going through their training with almost no hitches. Echo and Barry were starting to fall into the same seamless unit that Blue and Owen had become; Echo was a little more patient with Owen, didn't try to cause as much mischief with Blue as she had in the past, and there were no more nightmares. Barry, on the other hand, had become much more cognizant of his surroundings. The slightest sound had his head snapping in that direction, and he was becoming increasingly difficult to sneak up on. Owen had noticed similar changes in himself, but he had never thought about it until he noticed it in Barry. Both of them walked more silently, their senses were improving, and their reaction time, while already pretty good, was getting a bit ridiculous. Owen was thrilled that Barry and Echo were getting closer, repairing the damage that Barry's concussion had dealt, and so he didn't mind the stiff limbs and odd looks that the other people that worked at Outpost Alpha occasionally gave them when they showed up in the same clothes they wore the day before, hay tangled in Owen's hair and Barry's face imprinted with the marble-like texture of Echo's skin. 

However, even Owen liked to feel human on occasion, so after a week he returned to his bungalow to sleep on a bed, shower, and eat something other than whatever could be made in the microwave that sat in the corner of Outpost Alpha's office. He was rubbing a towel through his hair when his phone pinged, and he raised an eyebrow. 

**1 New Email**

He swiped his thumb across the screen and pulled up the email, letting out a laugh when he saw who it was from. 

**From: dearing.claire@jurassicworld.com**

**To: grady.owen@research.jurassicworld.com**

**CC: masson.barry@research.jurassicworld.com**

**Sub: Pack Party**

**Mr. Grady,**

**Although I have been aware of your Bonding for the past three months now, the other employees here at Jurassic World have not been informed. We have thrown several Pairing Parties in the past few months, and I was hoping that you would allow us to do the same for both you and Barry. If you would not like a party, I was hoping that HR could still send out an announcement informing the Jurassic World family that you have officially found your Familiar. This is not obligatory, but it would help others in the staff get to know you a bit better since you are a bit of a mystery to most people. I have honestly heard you referred to as "the raptor guy" more frequently than I have heard your actual name. So please let me know what (if anything) you would be comfortable having happen.**

**Along the same vein, but nowhere near as optional, is the requirement that you officially register with the IFD (http://www.internationalfamiliardatabase.unitedstates.com/registration). If you do not do so within six months of finding your Familiar, you are subject to penalties and processing fees ranging between $25-$500. They know that you have internet on Isla Nublar. They won't accept "living on an isolated Costa Rican island" as an excuse for you failing to register in time, and as the official witness for any Bondings that happen on Isla Nublar, I will not forge the date to keep you from paying those fines.**

**Sincerely,**

**Claire Dearing**

**Jurassic World Park Operations Manager**

-x-x-x-x-

He dialed Barry's number. 

"Allo?" 

"Hey Barry, did you get Claire's email?"

"Yes, I got it a few minutes ago. What are you thinking?" 

"I'm all on board for a party, but I think we should make a special request." 

"What's that?"

"Bring the party to us. Everyone else has had their Familiar introduced at one point or another...nobody can meet the girls unless they roll up this way or we bring them down to the main resort, and I really don't think the girls are ready for that much excitement yet." 

Barry let out a laugh. "I think this is a marvelous idea. Just make sure Claire knows that Vic is  _not_ invited." 

-x-x-x-x-

**To: dearing.claire@jurassicworld.com**

**From: grady.owen@research.jurassicworld.com**

**CC: masson.barry@research.jurassicworld.com**

**Re: Sub: Pack Party**

**Ms. Dearing,**

**I've told you a thousand times that my name is Owen. Don't call me Mr. Grady, this isn't the military and I'm not my dad. We're all good for the announcement and the party, but we would like it if the party could take place up at Outpost Alpha. We don't think that the girls are ready for a run down to the main resort and we don't want to freak any unsuspecting guests out if they look out their window and see two apex predators playing in a fountain or something.**

**Also, I resent your assumption that I wouldn't register on time. It was on my To-Do list, I promise. It'll get done tonight, I just have to find the prettiest picture of Blue I can before I do it. I'm sure whoever files that one is going to have a blast having to enter a velociraptor into the system as is.**

**Thanks,**

**Owen Grady**

**PhD Animal Sciences**

**Jurassic World Research Division, Outpost Alpha**

-x-x-x-x-

**To: parkemployees@jurassicworld.com**

**From: dearing.claire@jurassicworld.com**

**Sub: Pairing Party**

**Dear Jurassic World Family,**

**There have been two more Bondings that have taken place within our family in the past few months. Three months ago, there was an incident at Outpost Alpha which led to the discovery that Research Supervisor Owen Grady was Bonded to one of the animals involved in the studies taking place there. A little over a month ago, Research Assistant Barry Masson discovered that he was also Bonded to one of the animals involved in the study.**

**Owen Grady to Blue, Velociraptor**

**Barry Masson to Echo, Velociraptor**

**We would like to extend a congratulations to both Pairs, and hope that you will join us at Outpost Alpha this Saturday, from 10:00 PM-1:00 AM for a Pairing Party. Food, drinks, and music will be provided. Anyone who wishes to attend is asked to send their RSVPs to **Roderigo Salas at salas.roderigo@hr.jurassicworld.com no later than this Friday. Transportation from the resort to Outpost Alpha will be leaving from the Staff Area behind Margaritaville starting at 9:00 PM, with the last vehicle leaving the resort at 11:30. Transportation from Outpost Alpha to the resort will begin at 11:30 with the last vehicle leaving Outpost Alpha at 1:30 AM.****

****Congratulations to Owen and Barry,** **

****Claire Dearing** **

****Jurassic World Park Operations Manager** **

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So Barry's last name was sort of...made up. It is a French name, but Barry's last name is not listed on any online source I can find right now. If I'm wrong, someone let me know and I'll fix it, but otherwise...headcanon I guess?  
> Also, I really like writing these emails. Sorry not sorry. Now time for me to go to bed.


	10. Pack Party

The rest of the week was spent getting the girls ready for the copious amounts of attention they'd be getting. Echo and Blue were a bit more prepared, Owen and Barry coaching them through everything on a more personal level, but Charlie and Delta were a bit skittish at first. Everyone at Outpost Alpha was working their hardest to make sure that the girls were up for the challenge of having so many people around their paddock, and by Saturday morning they were confident that nobody would get bitten, or worse, eaten, as long as they stayed outside of the paddock. Barry and Owen went so far as to lock the gates leading to the catwalks with both biometric locks and regular padlocks, knowing that the only way someone would be foolish enough to enter the paddock would be by drunkenly stumbling up onto the catwalk and then falling down. 

When the HR team showed up early Saturday evening to set up, Echo and Blue were darting all around the paddock, excited to have new people around. New people meant new games, new tricks to be had, and while none of them would hurt a person, a little surprise wasn't entirely amiss. Charlie and Delta quickly picked up on this, and by the time that the tables were unfolded they were both plastered to the walls of the paddock looking for ways to shock the HR people into screaming or darting away. When more of the HR team arrived, however, Charlie seemed to get a bit anxious and ducked into the stable to settle down for the night. Delta was determined to get attention though, and kept creeping up on people who got close to the cage. 

"Should we warn them?" Barry asked, nodding towards a group of chatty interns setting up a table only a few feet from the cage. Owen looked and found himself wondering where people got the idea that it was safe to be within grabbing range of a dangerous predator and not be paying attention, and so he dipped his head in affirmation. 

"Hey guys," he called out as Delta shoved as much of her muzzle as possible between the bars, flashing teeth, and reached towards the nearest kid's crisp uniform shirt. "Don't put your back to the cage, especially that close." 

The interns shifted in unison, the kid who was closest to the cage letting out a screech when he realized just how close he had been to getting grabbed. Delta was certainly menacing in appearance, all sickle-like talons and razor sharp teeth, eyes glinting in the low light, but Owen could read her body language, saw the way she was practically vibrating with excitement, tail lashing back and forth. This wasn't hunting, not really. She had made too much noise, was too jumpy. No, this was playing, taking advantage of someone's unawareness to spring a trap on them. It was no different than what she did to her sisters (or her sisters did to her) when someone had a treat she wanted. These people didn't know her tricks yet. 

Owen couldn't help but laugh, but he pushed her face back into the paddock gently all the same. She snorted and shook her head, trilled at him once in confusion and disappointment, and then trotted off to go join Charlie in the stable. 

"Does it scare you?" the kid who had almost been grabbed asked. Owen raised an eyebrow. 

"Does what scare me?" 

"Having a predator like that for a Familiar," the kid clarified. 

Shaking his head, Owen leaned against the bars without fear. "No. We trust each other. I know that she'd never hurt me. It's...actually a bit reassuring." 

"How so?"

"Who's gonna mess with the guy that's got a velociraptor as a Familiar?" Owen asked. The kid let out a laugh. 

"Fair point." And if the intern went milk white as Blue walked over and shoved her head through the bars over Owen's shoulder at that moment, Owen didn't really mind one bit. 

-x-x-x-x-

The first caravan to arrive from the resort was surprisingly full. Most of the people in the truck were other handlers, but there was no doubt that the air was crackling with excitement, curiosity, and a bit of apprehension. Owen gave Blue one last pat on the snout before straightening up and walking over to greet everyone. He felt less awkward than he usually did, and whether that was because he now had his Familiar or just because these people were in his territory now he didn't know. Almost as soon as he made it over to the truck though, he was being pulled into a tight hug. 

"Congratulations!" Amanda squealed, holding Owen so tightly that he couldn't squirm away despite the mouthful of hair he was currently receiving. He hugged her back and grinned sheepishly as they separated. "Why didn't you tell us?!" she demanded, folding her arms across her chest and pouting playfully at him. 

"We were sort of keeping things under wraps for a while," he answered; it was the honest truth. Between Mitchell getting attacked, the confidentiality of the research Owen was initially doing, and then Barry's incident, Claire had instructed him to keep things quiet until the higher-ups were ready to field any official lines of questioning about the raptors. "How's Martha?" he asked, not really wanting to get into the why. Amanda's face softened, a broad smile flickering across full lips. 

"She's good, yeah. Oh, mi amado, she's so good," Amanda chuckled, flicking a strand of hair out of her face. "It's a bit far between here and the valley though, and she isn't the fastest mover so she decided to stay with the herd tonight." 

Owen nodded in understanding. "And I'm sure guests would panic if they saw a fourteen thousand pound trike walking the park." 

"No doubt," Amanda chuckled, and with that she was being shoved aside so that Pietro could launch himself at Owen. 

"Owen you  _son of a bitch_ ," Pietro yelled, letting off a round of obscenities that would have made Owen's commander blush before he returned his feet to the ground and smacked Owen's shoulder amicably. "You haven't been talking to us enough my friend," he continued as Celia settled atop Owen's head. She screeched in agreement and very gently pecked his forehead with her curved black beak before fluttering back to Pietro, very deliberately giving Owen a face full of red and yellow plumage as she swept by. 

"Like I said, we were keeping things under wraps. You know now though, and that's what counts, right?" Owen said, flashing Martin a smile as he got off the truck and helped Leroy make the jump down. He was vaguely aware of other handlers and friends of Barry's expressing similar thoughts, although a lot less profanely, and he shook his head. 

"Come and meet her?" he asked. The others exchanged a look, and even though Martin grew a little shaky, they all agreed. 

-x-x-x-x-

Blue was a perfect little lady when the group walked over to the paddock. She had consented to the scrub down that Owen had given her, so her skin was soft and her blue streak seemed brighter than usual since it wasn't dusty. Her teeth had been cleaned meticulously, something that happened normally anyway, and her claws glinted they were so clean. Amanda sucked in a sharp breath, eyes huge as they locked onto Blue, and Pietro actually took a step back before continuing forward. Blue hovered near the gate of the entry cage, separated from Owen and the others by a few feet and two sets of bars, and yet she demanded attention in the way she stood with her head high and eyes carefully examining each person standing before her. 

"Hey Blue," Owen said, and she let out a long, soft hoot followed by a short honk.  _Owen_. He grinned; she had just started vocalizing his name the best she could. Echo was doing the same for Barry, two sharp honks that got his attention without fail, but she was over by the stable chittering away with Delta and Charlie, who were now closed in for a bit, between the bars. 

"She's gorgeous," Amanda finally said, breaking the tension that had settled over the group, and Blue chirped her thanks at her, much to Amanda's surprise. "Does she..." 

"Understand what you're saying? Yeah," Owen said proudly, quickly entering his code to open the outside gate of the entry cage. He stepped in and let it close behind him. "She picked up on things pretty fast...she can't understand anything but English though. That's partially my fault," he grinned. 

"Ah, that's okay. Martha understands Spanish and English when I think it, but she can't understand other people unless they're speaking Spanish," Amanda explained, watching as Owen unlocked the inside gate and immediately had his arms full of an affectionate and excited Blue. 

**_Calm down, it's only been a few hours._ **

_Lots of people, not pack, explore, explore!_

Owen stifled a laugh and rolled his eyes. 

"She really wants to meet you guys...is that okay?" he asked, glancing at the group. Martin shifted from foot to foot, Leroy skittering behind him, but Amanda's back was straight and she seemed confident enough. 

"Yeah, why not? It's legal to let Bonded dinosaurs out of their enclosures, I checked in the park policies," she said. Blue's lips curled up in an eerie imitation of a grin, and so Owen guided her into the entry cage and shut the inside gate behind them. He pulled out his walkie and pressed the button. 

"Hey Barry, Blue's ready to make her debut, just give people a heads up, over." 

Barry looked over at Owen and shook his head in amusement, but started informing their guests that they'd be walking with an apex predator in a few seconds. A few people got nervous, Owen could feel it in the air, but he was confident in Blue's self control as he opened the external gate and stepped back out. Blue hovered for a moment, scenting the air and looking around, aware that everyone was watching her apprehensively, but finally stepped out of the paddock for the first time since she was an infant. The gate shut behind her with a click and she promptly butted her head against Owen's. 

_**Be good.** _

_Of course._

"So...Amanda, Pietro, Martin...this is Blue. Blue, this is Amanda, Pietro, and Martin," Owen said, pointing to each person as he introduced them. Amanda promptly stepped forward and let Blue smell her hand, letting out a breathy laugh as Blue pressed her face into the extended palm. Amanda scratched between her eyes briefly before Blue stepped back, turning her eyes on Pietro. Celia's feathers puffed up, but Pietro raised a faintly trembling hand in greeting and was given them same sniff-please scratch treatment as Amanda. Martin, however, made no move to greet Blue. Instead, he stood there taking deep, shaky breaths. Leroy was whining and circling his feet. 

 _This one smells of fear_.

**_It's a natural reaction...you're a predator, remember?_ **

_But I will not hurt him._

**_He doesn't know that._ **

That made Blue snap her head back towards Owen, who shrugged and patted her tail. After staring at him for a long while, Blue simply took an extra step and shoved her face against Martin's palm. Leroy let out a bark, but when Blue simply stood there, stock-still with her head under Martin's hand, he padded forward and sniffed at her ankle cautiously. Another whine, and then he licked her marbled skin and wagged his tail. Martin's body seemed to relax a bit and he patted Blue twice atop the head before stepping away. 

"She's a smart girl," Martin rasped, burying his fingers in Leroy's fur. 

-x-x-x-x-

Most of the guests reacted with the same apprehension that Martin had, but by the time Blue and Echo had made rounds, everyone was laughing, commenting on how sleek they were, pointing out the evolutionary traits that made them such skilled hunters, and occasionally tossing them bits of meat as they bobbed through the crowd. Owen only had to scold Blue a few times for trying to eat cake, which she later discovered did not suit her tastes at all, and both him and Barry found themselves laughing until they cried when Echo grabbed a can of soda, ran away, and bit down, exploding sticky-sweet foam all over herself and shrieking in disgust at the taste. Everyone was in high spirits, and the mood held firm even when the notoriously strict Claire Dearing pulled up in her SUV. 

"Claire, I didn't think you were coming," Barry called out, Echo still plowing her head along the grass in an attempt to clean the soda off of her skin. Blue was hopping around her sister, making these weird little noises that Owen knew were meant to imitate laughter, but she froze and stared at Claire when Owen found himself getting a bit nervous. Dammit, he was 35 years old, his hands shouldn't get sweaty whenever he talked to this woman. 

"I got a bit caught up in some paperwork, but I do try to make it to these events," Claire smiled, glancing at Owen briefly and trying not to let her cheeks flush. Owen straightened out his back and walked over. 

"Hey Claire," he said, tucking his hands into his pockets. "Long time, no see. Hows the office?" 

Claire raked her eyes over him and offered him a perfunctory smile. "It's busy. Corporate has been demanding a new attraction, and I've been working with the labs to get something put together before the summer." 

"Something put together? Why do I feel like that sounds like some sort of experiment?" Owen asked, frowning slightly. Claire's face remained cool and neutral. 

"Everything we do here is an experiment Mr. Grady. Some of them just...work out better than others," she replied. Owen bit back a frustrated groan, and it was then that he noticed that Blue had slipped behind Claire. 

"Just don't do something stupid, please," Owen requested, making sure to keep his attention on Claire. He knew that Blue wouldn't hurt her, but whatever mischief his Familiar was up to was bound to be hysterical. 

"Like what? Jump into a raptor pit without protection and hope for the best?" Ouch. Low blow. 

"How about cooking up something smarter than a raptor?" Owen suggested. It was then that Blue let out a deep exhale, ruffling Claire's perfectly arranged hair. Claire paled and scrambled towards Owen before realizing that it was Blue. 

"That wasn't funny!" she yelled, smacking Owen on the arm and then glaring at a chittering Blue. "She's just as bad as you are!" 

"Um, that's the point of her being my Familiar, isn't it?" Owen laughed, patting Claire once on the shoulder on his way to drape an arm over Blue's neck and nudge his head against her amicably. 

_She deserved it._

**_I'm not mad, trust me. That was hysterical, but try not to do that to the wrong people._ **

_Who could be wrong?_

Owen was distracted from replying when the last truck from the resort pulled up. A few guys from ACU filed out, dressed in jeans and teeshirts instead of their usual Kevlar, and none of them were armed with anything more than a utility knife. Blue still shifted closer to Owen, and Owen let out a dangerous sound when Vic stepped out of the truck. 

"Owen, you didn't," Barry moaned, immediately seeking out Echo. Echo was still a bit away from Barry, snapping at fireflies and trotting around with Jonas, the Gallimimus that had arrived with one of the other handlers about an hour prior. Once they had gotten over the predator-prey instinct, Jonas and Echo had apparently hit it off quite nicely, enjoying the company of another creature that could run quickly. Jeanette and Barry had also been chatting for a large portion of the evening, and Owen had made a mental note to find out exactly what was going on from Barry later. However, that was not the issue right now. The main issue was the rage bubbling up in his gut and the agitated hisses and clicks coming from Blue. 

"I might have," Owen murmured. Claire saw what both men were looking at and let out a slow sigh. 

"I should've known, I'm sorry Barry," she whispered as Vic sauntered over. 

"Not your fault," Barry said between clenched teeth. Vic came to a stop in front of Owen and gave him a sickeningly sweet grin. 

"I guess congratulations are in order then, hm?" Vic sneered. Owen's hands balled up into fists and Blue pressed in along his back. 

_Hate, hate, threat, I want to bite him._

**_I do too, but we can't._  **

"What a surprise, huh Vic?" Owen answered, refusing to blink or be cowed. The wind shifted, and just like that Echo was letting out an enraged screech that made even Owen's blood run cold. Barry promptly stepped between Vic and the rapidly approaching raptor, who had knocked over a table with her tail and was creating a lot of anxiety throughout the group gathered near the paddock. 

"Echo, calm down," Barry ordered, holding his hands up and pressing them against Echo's chest when she came to a stop in front of him. Echo hissed at Vic and pulled Barry into her body with her arms, the long claws on her feet clicking against the ground in a display of aggression. "Shh, Calme-toi. Il n'est pas une menace." 

Echo continued to growl at Vic, but she took a few steps back, dragging Barry along with her. Everyone seemed to be staring not at Echo, but at Vic, who let out a nervous laugh and shrugged. 

"Guess he's not a fan of security, eh?" Vic chortled. Blue let out a screech of disdain and nudged Owen towards Barry. 

"Echo's a she, Vic," Owen snapped. Blue huffed and tried again to push Owen away from the source of his anger, but Owen dug his heels in. Blue wouldn't be able to move him without knocking him over, which she wasn't above doing normally, but would refrain from doing in front of so many people. A lot of people were still nervous about two raptors being allowed out of containment even if they were Familiars, and she knew that either of them lashing out now would cause more problems for their people than they would solutions. 

"She, he, it, what does it matter?" Vic said flippantly. The people that heard that comment began to mutter angrily, even Claire sucking in a breath. 

"Come on now Vic, you and I both know you didn't grow up in a sewer despite how much of a scumbag you are...you know better than to call someone's Familiar an 'it'," Owen growled. Barry was struggling to get out of Echo's hold now, rage evident on his features. He was ranting in French, Jeanette and Martin staring open-mouthed at whatever was pouring forth from Barry's lips, but Echo merely held on more tightly and screeched in anger at Vic again. 

"Yes, well, normally someone's Familiar isn't stolen property," Vic shot back. Without even thinking, Owen lashed out, punching Vic as hard as he could in the face. He felt something in his hand crack, but the pain was overwhelmed by the rush of satisfaction that accompanied the feeling of Vic's nose crumpling beneath his fist. 

"Owen!" Claire shrieked, surging forward and inserting herself between the two men. Vic was groaning, clutching his face as blood streamed down and soaked into his shirt. "Vic, that was entirely inappropriate. I've suspended employees for saying less than what you have, and if it weren't for Owen punching you, I would have," she seethed, face flushing with anger. It was astonishing to see the contrast between her bright red cheeks and neck and the smooth, white blazer she was wearing. Owen swallowed roughly. "Get yourself to the hospital and have your face looked at. You'll be receiving an email in regards to your sensitivity training in the next 24 hours."

"He assaulteb me!" Vic cried out, a bloody hand flying out to point at Owen. Blue snarled and made a show out of sniffing the blood in the air. 

"And he will be disciplined accordingly. You need to leave," Claire said, her voice cold and her eyes colder. One of the ACU guys stepped forward then and led Vic to the truck that they had gotten out of just a few minutes ago. 

-x-x-x-x-

The second Vic was gone, Barry was guiding Echo back into the paddock and Owen did the same with Blue. Both raptors were extremely distraught, hissing and growling, begging to be allowed to chase down the pig-man that had dared to encroach on their territory and insult their Halves. 

**_Blue, cool it._ **

_He deserves more than the minor injury you inflicted. He's bleeding, I could track him easily._

**_You're not hunting him Blue, end of story. I took care of the problem, now you need to take care of Echo while me and Barry clean up this mess._ **

Blue dipped her head then and nosed at his hand. Owen hissed in pain and instinctively drew his hand to his chest. 

_Hurt. He hurt you._

**_No, I hurt me hurting him. It's fine, I'll get it looked at later._ **

_You better._

-x-x-x-x-

"Well, you can't say that this wasn't the most interesting Pairing Party you've ever been to," Owen laughed as one of the nurses who had shown up to the party looked at his hand. He bit back a groan as she forced him to bend his fingers, and the action promptly stopped. 

"Owen, you can't just punch someone every time they piss you off," Claire reprimanded, her fingers flying across the screen of her phone, no doubt filing incident reports already. 

"I was within my legal rights when I hit him. He was threatening Blue," Owen retorted. 

"How so?" Claire asked, looking up at him. Her eyes were sharp, almost predatory in the light from the phone. Owen made a mental note to never get on her shitlist. Well. Any further down on her shitlist than he was already. 

"He claimed that she was stolen property. That implies that she could be taken from me, and that's not happening," Owen said. Claire's lips thinned and her fingers jabbed against the screen a little more harshly. 

"Blue and Echo are  _not_ property. They stopped being regarded as park assets the moment they Bonded with you and Barry. They have the same autonomy as a human being does. Vic should know that...everyone knows that. God, this is a mess," Claire breathed, pinching the bridge of her nose. "What Vic said would hold as a threat if he were to press charges, but I still have to officially reprimand you. You're getting a warning in your file and you'll have to attend a single therapy session with one of the counselors at the hospital...but between you and I, I think you did the right thing." 

Owen stared, and Claire took that as her cue to leave, slipping into her SUV in a ripple of white fabric. 

"Alright Grady, time to get you to the docs," the nurse said, clapping him on the back. Owen just nodded and followed her to one of the vehicles waiting to drive people back towards the main resort. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You guys thought I forgot >:)


	11. Shaken and Stirred

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the comments. dear lord the comments. some of them have me in utter hysterics. I love all of you, seriously. I can barely keep up, but it's perfectly fine because such love. Also, my new brotp is Barry and Owen as Browen. Just thought you'd all appreciate that update. Uh. Warning for cursing in this chapter. Owen gets mad and has a potty mouth.

"And where, would you say, do you think your anger came from Mr. Grady?" 

Owen growled under his breath and shifted on the couch, his hand clunking against the window. He winced, the shock vibrating through his new cast, and turned to look at the therapist. 

"Gee, I can think of a few places," he said slowly. "We could start when Vic pushed one of my best friends into a fucking  _velociraptor paddock_ , and yeah, I know Blue wouldn't have hurt Barry but we really didn't know about the others, so I'm a just a little mad about that. And then, on top of being pushed into the paddock, Barry had a concussion that sidelined him for over and month and severely damaged his Bond that he discovered he had because he was, you guessed it, PUSHED INTO A RAPTOR PIT." 

"Mr. Grady, take a deep breath please," the therapist requested, staring at him over the frames of her glasses. She was an older woman, calm in a way that Owen couldn't begin to describe, and her Familiar sat on her lap in a neat little ball that only cats seemed to have been able to master. "So, you are angry with Victor because he injured your friend, and justifiably so. His behavior was dangerous and uncalled for, but you also assaulted him."

"After he called Barry's Familiar an 'it' and told me that Blue was stolen property," Owen said, teeth clenched. The therapist raised her eyebrows ever so slightly and wrote a few things down on his chart. 

"And do you feel a large urge to protect Blue?" 

Owen stared at her in disbelief. "Of course I do. She's my Familiar, my soul-mate, she's...hell, if something happened to Blue I don't know what I'd do with myself." 

"You do realize that she is one of the most dangerous creatures to ever walk the earth, right?" 

"That doesn't mean I wouldn't do anything to protect her. Cats are supposed to be smart, agile, excellent hunters, survivalists...but would you leave your Familiar out on some tropical island with people that would love to ship her off to Afghanistan to fight a war?" Owen sneered. Doctor Smith took a slow breath and shook her head. 

"Unfortunately our time for today is over. I would recommend you come back for more sessions to work out your aggression, but obviously nothing is compulsory after today," Doctor Smith said, rising to her feet with surprising ease. Her Familiar dropped to the floor gracefully and blinked up at Owen with something akin to disdain. 

"Thanks Doc," Owen huffed, grabbing his jacket and getting out of there as quickly as he could. 

-x-x-x-x-

When he got back to the Outpost, Barry was pacing back and forth in front of the paddock. Owen heard the girls screaming to the high heavens, and every few seconds he saw a flash of claws as they launched themselves at the bars. 

"What the hell is going on?" Owen demanded, hopping off his bike. Barry's shoulders were stiff and he was pivoting on his heel like he was in a marching block. 

"We received a visit from ACU. Apparently Vic felt threatened by Echo and Blue, and so ACU is to remain here at all times and...contain the raptors," Barry explained, pointing out a few heavily armored ACU guards walking the catwalks. "He cannot legally restrict Blue and Echo to the paddock, but ACU is wrapped up in his meaty fingers and so our girls are now required to have armed supervision wherever they may be." 

"You're fucking kidding me," Owen hissed. 

"I wish I was, but they won't leave," Barry replied, sucking in a sharp breath. "J'en ai ral le cul!" Echo screeched even louder and the bars sang with the force of her body slamming against them. 

"Barry, I know this sounds weird, but calm down. If Echo keeps doing that, she's going to hurt herself," Owen murmured, patting Barry on the shoulder with his uninjured hand before trotting up the stairs to the catwalk. 

"Gentlemen," he called out, getting the attention of the ACU grunts. "I don't know if you're aware, but these catwalks are restricted access." 

"Yes, and Mr. Hoskins has full authority over this outpost. He has given us direct orders to ensure that the assets are contained at all times Mr. Grady," one of the grunts replied, obviously pleased with himself. Owen's fingers tightened instinctively, and he almost let out a curse as his broken hand throbbed with the motion. 

"Yeah, well Mr. Hoskins ain't here and what he's doing, order Blue and Echo to have guns on them at all times, is not only stupid, but illegal. So I'll give you ten minutes to pack your  _fucking_ bags and get out of here before I call Miss Dearing and have all of you removed from the island and sued for discrimination and harassment," Owen retorted, his voice getting louder with each word until he was almost shouting. Blue came to a stop below him and gave her call. He made a short 'leave it' gesture and stared down the guard. The guard was unphased and had the balls to laugh at Owen. 

"Right, and when they hear you set a raptor on him, what then?" 

"We've got witnesses and security footage that would contradict that statement my friend...and now you have five minutes to get out of my sight," Owen growled. The guard simply shook his head and turned his back on Owen, making a rude hand gesture to his friend across the way and then pointing at Owen. 

-x-x-x-x-

"Get them the fuck off my sight Claire," Owen almost yelled, ready to tear his hair out. Claire made a disgruntled noise and he heard her shifting the phone around. There was the clatter of typing and then Claire sighed. 

"Owen, the order wasn't officially processed through the Jurassic World security mainframe. This is Vic being a bully and throwing his weight around. I can call him and try to get him to have them leave, but he can be antagonistic on his best days and I don't want to push it further," Claire explained. Owen could practically hear her putting her head on her hand. 

"Yeah, well, you have four extremely distressed velociraptors that are currently at high risk for injury because they keep slamming themselves against the bars. They know what guns are Claire, and they are not happy about having them pointed at them all day," Owen said. 

"That's not going to help matters. If anything, Vic will claim it's a sign of aggression. I know you're unhappy with this, but my hands are tied for the moment. It's your Outpost, get it under control." 

Owen just barely resisted the urge to throw his phone against the wall. 

-x-x-x-x-

"She won't do anything," Owen said, grimacing as he swallowed a mouthful of beer. "It's bullshit man. Like, she's all ready to hop down everyone's throat all the time, but the one time it matters and she's all 'it's your outpost, get it under control." 

"Merde. So we're stuck with the idiot brigade up top and the girls freaking out down below?" Barry asked, leaning his head against the wall. They were holed up in the office, heads aching from the sounds that the raptors were making and neither Echo nor Blue willing to listen to them. "This sucks." 

"Yeah, it really does suck. God, if I have to hear Blue screaming like that much longer I'm going to lose my mind. It's...it's just heartbreaking, you know? Like, she knows she's being threatened, she's terrified, all I can get off of her is fear right now." 

"I know. Echo is much the same. I wouldn't be surprised if she starts having nightmares again," Barry sighed, rubbing at his face. 

"Maybe we should have a pack night again. It might calm them down," Owen suggested. Barry was silent for a second and then nodded. 

"Hopefully Charlie and Delta won't be a problem."

-x-x-x-x-

"Mister Masson, Mister Grady, you shouldn't go in there. They're highly unstable and incredibly aggressive!" one of the ACU guards shouted from the catwalk as Barry and Owen walked into the entry cage. The raptors were still darting around the paddock screeching, but Blue and Echo were starting to calm a bit as they realized that their Halves were close. 

"Allez vous faire foutre!" Barry screamed, flipping off the guard as he punched the button that would open the inner gate. The guards looked confused for a second, and so Owen decided it'd be appropriate to clarify as best he could. 

"He said go fuck yourself you assholes! They're only pissed off because you're pointing fucking guns at them!" Owen yelled as the gate opened. He stepped into the paddock without fear, and Blue darted over to him with such speed that she knocked him flat on his back. He groaned and coughed a bit, but when he heard the whir of the stun guns powering up he jumped to his feet. "SHOOT THAT GUN AND I'LL SHOVE IT UP YOUR ASS!" he roared, backing up so that he was protecting as much of Blue with his body as he could. Blue screeched at the guards and started posturing, tail thrashing side to side. 

_Protect, pack is threatened, territory, get out, get out, get out!_

**_It's alright Blue, nothing bad is going to happen. They're going to stay up here, your territory is down here, it's_ _safe._ **

_No, pain, weapons, must attack, keep you safe, get them away!_

**_I'm trying Blue, but for now the only thing I can do is be here with you._ **

_I'm scared. They are dangerous, this place is dangerous, something bad is awake._

Owen's brows furrowed and he reached up to wrap his arms around Blue's neck as the guards lowered their weapons. 

Something bad was awake? 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> FRENCH CURSING, WOO! Okay, so I forgot to mention this before, but I only know a little French. I studied it for several years, but with most languages, they don't ever teach the naughty words. So these are brought to you by the internet. If anyone is a native French speaker or knows more French than I do, please correct me if I'm wrong!
> 
> J'en ai ral le cul: I'm so fucking fed up  
> allez vous faire foutre: the equivalent of go screw yourself. I had a few people help me out with the French and the original phrase was something so off color that it would almost never be used, so I think I might save that one for if things really go down.


	12. Calm Before the Storm

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> okay, so this is getting out a lot later than I had hoped because Thor decided to teabag my entire area. Downed trees, blocked streets, power lines taken out, the whole shebang. And basically, my grandparents were in their kitchen when not one but TWO trees came tearing through their house, missing them by less than 3 feet. So things are a bit chaotic for my family right now, but thankfully nobody was hurt and now I've got some downtime and this is exactly what I needed for stress relief. So. Thank you all for your support and comments and kudos and questions, they make hard days like today a little easier and good days great :) 
> 
> ALSO: Obviously, due to this being an AU, I'll have to tweak the plot of Jurassic World a bit from here on out. So...hang on to your butts lads, ladies, and everyone outside and/or in between :)

The girls were so restless that Owen almost suggested that they sleep just outside the paddock that night, but then Blue made a sound so close to whimpering that his heart broke a bit and he hugged her as tightly as he could with his hand in a cast. 

"They're terrified Owen," Barry murmured a few hours later, once the girls had calmed enough that they were comfortable resting in the enclosed space of the stable. Delta had positioned herself by the door and hissed at every branch and rolling leaf that the wind dared to move. Charlie was close behind her, growling almost constantly, but she had stopped doing laps and Owen was going to take what he could get for now. 

"I know," Owen replied, his hand on Blue's side. She was quivering, and whether it was fear or pent up aggression that had her shaking beneath his hand, he didn't know. What he did know was that whoever was making her shake like this was going to pay. Heavily. "Blue keeps telling me that something bad is awake." 

"Echo's saying the same," Barry whispered, running a hand over Echo's pale head. Echo crooned and arched up into the touch, but both men could see the tension running along her neck and shoulders. "She won't say much else though, and I honestly don't think that there's a problem with our Bond that's causing that." 

Owen bit his lip and rubbed small circles into Blue's pebbled skin. Her chest was heaving a bit more rapidly than usual and he could feel her heart thudding behind her ribs. He wanted to scream, but if he didn't keep his own anger and anxiety under control then the girls were going to lose it again. Alpha. He was the Alpha, he had signed up for this, and now was not the time to lose his cool. 

"I have to go back to the resort in two weeks anyway to get this x-rayed and see if the cast'll be ready to come off, so I can always poke around and figure out what's going on," Owen said. At the mention of his cast, Blue tipped her head and started gently gnawing on the hard material. Owen winced and pushed her off with a soft grunt, but her teeth had left dents all along the plaster. "Punk," he muttered in her direction. She trilled quietly and let her head come to rest against his legs instead. 

"Didn't you say that Claire said something about corporate putting together a new attraction?" Barry asked slowly. Owen's hand stilled and he took a very slow breath to keep from cursing. 

"Yeah, I did."

"And the girls have been saying that something bad is awake."

"Yep. So I guess the real question is what corporate decided would be a good attraction, huh?" Owen muttered darkly. Barry nodded and leaned a bit more closely to Echo. Delta chirruped and got to her feet, flopping down behind Owen and squirming until he started to use her as a pillow. 

"Let's just hope it's not another t-rex," Owen yawned, the steady rise and fall of Delta's chest and the warmth of both raptors pressed up against him lulling him into a sleepy fog. 

"After all this time? I seriously doubt that. Rexy is old and cranky," Barry chuckled. Charlie padded over then and curled up beside him. It had become something of a tradition for pack nights, the four raptors ensuring that both men had both sides covered. At one point Barry and Owen had thought that sleeping next to each other would make the girls feel safer, but they woke up to three heavy bodies crushing up against them, and Blue draped across both of their legs and slightly on top of Delta. 

"Sorta like you, huh?" Owen teased, eyes fluttering shut. 

"Piss off Owen, you're not exactly a spring chicken yourself," Barry muttered, and with that Owen was falling asleep. 

-x-x-x-x-

_Go, run, get out!_

_Owen raced through the jungle on legs that were not his own, branches lashing at his skin but not hurting the way he had expected at speeds like this. There was a screech and suddenly he was running with the pack, Blue at his side, Charlie, Delta, and Echo fanned out around him, and a darker raptor with soft yellow stripes beside Echo._

_Not safe, monster, **monster** , hurts, hurts my head, Alpha not safe._

_Owen's head turned to see what they were running from, but it was just endless jungle behind them, all around them really. He couldn't hear anything but the whip of leaves being shoved out of the way by the pack and Blue's thoughts ringing through his head. A roar ripped through the trees soon enough though, and the whole pack skidded to a halt._

**kill. kill them all.**

_Blue's pupils dilated, and slowly she turned to face Owen. A snarl ripped its way out of her throat and Owen stumbled back. His body had returned to him, soft, supple, weak flesh. Blue's claws dug into his thighs, tearing through muscle and almost biting into bone. He screamed and threw his arms up, trying to defend his throat, but she dove in and the last thing he saw was his Familiar's teeth before they sank into the flesh of his neck._

-x-x-x-x-

Owen's chest heaved as he bolted upright, startling Blue so badly that she shrieked, effectively waking everyone else. Delta was immediately sniffing Owen, trying to see why their Alpha had started so violently, but he only stood on shaky legs and wandered out into the paddock. The sun was little more than a sliver of pink-orange light above the trees, but it was enough for him to navigate the paddock without tripping. He flipped off the ACU team that immediately started watching him and let his head come to rest against the gate to the entry cage. 

"Are you okay?" Barry asked, walking up a few moments later. 

"Nightmare," Owen rasped, his mouth drier than it had ever been since he came back from Afghanistan. 

"About?" Barry questioned. His tone was far from accusatory; he had served as well, had worked with plenty of other men and women that had served. Soldiers had nightmares sometimes; it was par for the course. 

Owen shook his head. "I...I don't remember the whole thing. Just...running, and then this terrible voice telling us to kill people, and then...then Blue just turned on me." 

Barry squeezed Owen's shoulder tightly. "Blue is your Familiar. It would take more than a scary voice to turn her against you, and like you said, it was a nightmare. We are all under a lot of stress right now. Go back to your bungalow and get some real rest. I'll take care of the girls and call you in a few hours." 

"Thanks Barry," Owen sighed, rolling his shoulders to alleviate some of the tension there. "Girls, behave for Barry while I'm gone," he called out teasingly as he pressed the button that would open up the inside gate. 

_We always do._

Owen smiled softly at that. Barry was right; it would take a hell of a lot more than a scary voice to turn her against him. 


	13. Petrichor

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so first off...NEW PSEUD! I really felt the need to update, haven't in a long time, so dinosaurs_wowenough is the new name. *does a little spin to show it off* SECONDLY. I now have a writer's tumblr: dinosaurs-wowenough.tumblr.com come bother me if you want, send me prompts, whatever your hearts desire. LASTLY
> 
> A HUGE thank you to everyone for your well wishes and amazing support throughout this fic so far. Seriously. I had no idea that this would be my most popular fic on A03, nor did I realize that I'd be getting so many kudos, comments, bookmarks, etc. It's admittedly a huge ego boost, and sometimes aspiring writers need that. The world is a dark, scary place and you guys and your comments are like a flashlight for me. I hope you enjoy LUCKY NUMBER 13!! WOOP WOOP *raises the roof*

"You lucked out Mr. Grady," the doctor said, examining his x-rays closely before returning her gaze to him. "The initial fracture was minor. Normally, I wouldn't have even recommended a cast, but if I don't take the strictest measures you tend to end up back here again three times more than was necessary." Her eyes were crinkled at the edges, so Owen knew that there was no malicious intent behind the joke, but he rolled his eyes all the same.

"I'm not that bad," he groaned, scratching at the back of his neck. "I've only had to come back once or twice before." 

"Oh, so when I had to redo your stitches eight times?"

"That was-"

"Or when you sprained your ankle. And then a week before it would've been healed you sprained it again?"

"Blue got into-"

"Owen, you're not going to win this," the doctor smirked, and Owen had to let out a laugh. 

"Alright, alright...just get me out of this thing, will ya?" 

"Of course. But you're going to follow the physical therapy program I'm giving you. You and I will  _both_ know if you don't." 

-x-x-x-x-

Owen flexed his fingers before walking into the glittering tower that served as half hotel, half corporate offices. The man at the front desk smiled warmly. 

"Welcome to Titanosaur Tower. Do you have a reservation or appointment?" he asked. Owen stopped to gaze at the enormous _Argentinosaurus_  skeleton that was stationed in the center of the marble lobby, where a fountain normally would have been placed. Its head rose far up above him, elevators visible behind it rising even farther up into the building. 

"Uh...neither, actually. I wanted to see Miss Dearing though, is she in?" Owen finally said, walking over to the desk and passing his Jurassic World ID badge to the concierge. He tapped at his computer for a moment and then shook his head. 

"Unfortunately Miss Dearing is out examining a new attraction with Mister Masrani right now and won't be available until later...actually, scratch that, she's got family coming in and is supposed to have dinner with them this evening. I can schedule you an appointment next week though, does that work?" the man asked, glancing up at Owen and handing him back his badge. Owen tucked the badge into his shirt pocket and buttoned it with slightly clumsy fingers.

"Uh...just leave her a note, tell her that I need to talk to her as soon as is convenient...doesn't have to be in person though," Owen said, tapping his hand twice against the counter before turning on his heel. "Thanks."

"Have a nice day Mister Grady," the concierge/secretary...person of unidentifiable job description called out, voice echoing across the surprisingly uncrowded lobby.

"You too," Owen replied, and with that he was ducking out the door.

-x-x-x-x-

Normally Owen didn't linger around the resort, but Barry had told him to take some time to clear his head after his appointment with the doctor. The girls were getting more and more agitated by the day. It was getting to the point where Charlie and Delta were so out of hand that neither man felt it was safe to enter the paddock. Echo and Blue were moody, unwilling to communicate through the Bond more than absolutely necessary, and it was getting to the point where Owen was ready to rip his hair out. Blue's stress was seeping across the Bond, causing him to feel tense and on edge all day and flooding his sleeping hours with nightmares that left him screaming himself hoarse. So instead of heading straight back to the paddock, which was what Owen normally did, he walked down the main street and gazed into the windows of all the shops. He stopped in the Ben&Jerry's and bought himself more ice cream than he was proud to admit, and by the time he was done ingesting what he felt was easily more sugar than he normally ate in a month, he felt a bit better. There was a small bounce to his step and he didn't even grimace as two kids wearing triceratops hats slammed into his legs and then ran away without so much as an apology.

"I'm a v-v-v-elocirdaptor!" a little boy shrieked from his right, and he immediately turned to see a group of children playing with dinosaurs they must've gotten from a souvenir shop.  He bounced the little model towards a model of Rexy, growling under his breath as he did so, and the little girl holding the t-rex made a loud screeching noise and slammed it forward. 

"T-Rex is gonna eat your little raptor!" she yelled, almost slamming the boy's hand in an effort to stomp her dinosaur on top of his. Owen smirked and walked over to the kids. 

"Actually, velociraptors always hunt in packs," he said, winking at the boy. There were a few other velociraptor models still in the packaging next to the boy, so he scooped out the last three. They looked suspiciously like Echo, Charlie, and Delta, but he pushed that thought away in favor of setting up the raptors around the girl. "So the one you've got there would just be the distraction. These three would wait until Rexy here was ready to chow down on their friend before running in," he shuffled two forward and then plopped the third on the t-rex model's back, "and taking down the rex."

Both kids stared at him for a second and then started babbling off a thousand questions. 

"How come you know so much about dinosaurs mister? Are you a pal-paleotologist?" the girl questioned, tugging at the edge of his vest. Owen chuckled and shook his head. 

"Nah, but I do work here," he said, pulling out his badge to show them. 

"Wow! You work with dinosaurs?!" the boy crowed, staring between Owen and the badge in amazement. 

"Yup." 

"Do you have a favorite dinosaur? Mine's the pachuh...pachuh..." the girl stammered. 

"Pachycephalosaurus?" Owen asked. She blushed darkly and nodded. "Aw, don't be embarrassed. I can barely say it and I work with dinosaurs every day." 

"My favorite is Hennie!" the little boy shrieked. "What's yours?" 

"My favorite?" Owen questioned, picking up the little raptor that looked like Blue. He ran his thumb over the delicate curve of the toy's neck, the nodules in the plastic nowhere near as defined as Blue's skin actually was. "Velociraptors. Definitely velociraptors. They're smart, they're beautiful, and they're deadly." 

"Could they really beat a t-rex?" the girl asked. 

"Probably," Owen smiled, setting the toy down and standing up. "But I wouldn't want to find out either." 

-x-x-x-x-

His phone started to ring just as he was about to walk behind the fence separating the main street from the employee walkways that would take him to the parking lot where his Jeep sat. 

**INCOMING CALL: CLAIRE DEARING (ITINERARY QUEEN)**

"Hey Claire," Owen said as he pressed the phone to his ear. He leaned against the side of the shop he was next to and watched people walk by. 

"Owen, I'm glad I caught you. Mister Masrani wants you to take a look at the enclosure we've built for the new exhibit," Claire said breathlessly. Owen immediately straightened up. 

"I actually wanted to talk to you about that," he started. 

"Good, then we can talk when you get here. I'll send you the coordinates," Claire said, and with that she hung up. Owen started at his phone for a minute and then sighed heavily. He got a text within seconds, and kicked off the edge of the building to head to his car. He could already feel a headache starting to build up. 

-x-x-x-x-

Owen stared out at the enclosure with his hands on his hips. He was really trying not to rip Claire's head off with this one. 

"You just went and made a new dinosaur?" he paused, surveying the vegetation within the enclosure. It was rippling with the wind, but there was no sign of movement. "Probably not a good idea." 

Claire looked down at the screen in front of her once more and shook her head faintly. "Our attendance spikes every time we open a new attraction. Corporate wanted us to up the ante on this one...bigger, louder, scarier...so, we created our first genetically modified hybrid. It's my job to keep the park in business." 

"And it's my job to make sure that these animals are properly cared for...and I haven't seen this one yet. How big is she supposed to be anyway?" he asked. Claire tapped on the screen and glanced over at the security guard eating at his desk. 

"A little over fifty feet long," Claire murmured. Owen stared at Claire and let out a slow, angry breath. 

"Fifty feet long? This enclosure isn't properly sized for an animal that big. Whatever she is, she doesn't have enough room. And what about socialization? Without proper socialization, she'll become sociopathic. Where's her sibling?" Owen pressed, his toe tapping once in agitation. 

"She ate the sibling," Claire answered stiffly, turning to the guard. "Where is she?" 

The security guard hit a few buttons on his keyboard and then froze. "Thermal scans are coming up negative," he croaked, shoving his snacks aside to start hammering at the keyboard. "She...she's not in the enclosure." 

Owen surged forward and almost knocked Claire out of the way to see the screen for himself. "Shit. Claire, get me in that paddock. I need to see how she got out," he demanded. If Claire got a bit pale, he didn't say anything. 

-x-x-x-x-

"That wall's forty feet high...do you really think she climbed out?" the security guard asked as Owen ran his hand down the deep claw marks in the wall. Owen took a step back and examined the claw marks again. Something wasn't sitting right with him, and it wasn't just the collection of bones littering the bottom of the enclosure. 

"Depends," he finally replied, trying to suss out what was going on. 

"On what?" the guard asked. 

"What they cooked up in that lab," Owen murmured. The guard's radio went off then, crackling. Whoever it was sounded panicked. 

"Repeat that for me?" the guard said.

"SHE'S STILL IN THE ENCLOSURE!" the man on the other end screamed. Owen and the guard turned to look at each other, and the mechanic that had accompanied them started sliding closer to them. 

"Open the gate!" the guard screamed, and the three of them took off towards the gate. Owen winced as he heard the mechanic get snapped up in powerful jaws and pushed himself to get to the quickly opening gate before the nightmare behind him caught up. She was enormous, long, dexterous arms topped by dagger like claws, jaws the size of some smaller dinosaurs, and she radiated a coldness that made Owen want to scream like a scared little kid. As he tore through the gate, it started to shut again, but she slipped in behind him and obliterated the structure. There'd be no closing her in now, not unless there was a backup paddock somewhere else. Owen slid under a nearby truck and saw the security guard cowering in front of a vehicle nearby. The guard held up a quaking hand to shush Owen, and he nodded once, trying to control his breathing. He knew he was covered in sweat, and his heart was pounding so hard that it was difficult not to pant for breath. There were thundering footsteps along the side of the car that the guard was hiding in front of, and Owen found himself staring at the guard before the Indominous bent down and snapped him up in her jaws. Owen scrambled for the fuel line and whipped out a knife, cutting the line and letting the fuel spill all over him. He prayed that it would be enough to mask his scent or at least ward her off for now. After a few tense minutes of her snuffling near where he was laying, predator turned prey, she walked off. Owen felt his body sink into the ground in relief, and as soon as she disappeared into the jungle he was tearing off towards the control center. 

-x-x-x-x-

Watching the Indominous kill most of the ACU team made Owen feel sick to his stomach. Things were starting to become a repeat of the park that they purposely left to rot in the forest, and he found himself recalling Ian Malcolm's words; "your scientists were so concerned with whether they could that they didn't stop to think to think if they should." 

"Evacuate the island," Claire ordered. The guy in the Jurassic Park tee, and  _really?_ Owen thought,  _it had to be that shirt?_ nodded and between him and the quavering woman beside him they started an evacuation of the entire north side of the park. Within minutes the guests would be forced towards the resort, and hopefully the Indominous would be so preoccupied by hunting conveniently enclosed dinosaurs that she wouldn't start hunting smaller prey. Owen felt like he was in a haze as he turned to look at Claire, but that haze lifted when he saw that she was near tears. 

"My nephews. They ran off, my assistant can't find them...Owen, please," she wheezed. Owen's heart sank, but he nodded. 

"Where?" 

"Gyrosphere Valley."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For anyone who's curious, petrichor is the technical term for the smell of rain. Aka my favorite smell on Earth. Also, welcome aboard the SS Canon Divergence, where the author can't remember the whole scene word for word and so she made a bunch of it up. Woo!


	14. The Clouds Roll In

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> MUAHAHAHAHAHA

Barry stared down into the paddock and whispered a soft curse to himself. Blue was absolutely out of control. She was slamming herself into every weak point in the paddock's structure, screeching and wailing as loudly as she could, and Barry knew that something was wrong. Whatever Owen was up to, it wasn't good. 

_What is wrong with her?_

**_Alpha is in_ _danger_**

_How so?_

Just then the phone on the side of the small observation room rang. 

"Hello?" he asked. It was unusual for this phone to ring, and so his stomach immediately started flipping. 

"We have an asset out of containment. All guests are to evacuate the park. Everyone but Asset Containment, security, and vital research teams are to rendezvous at the resort and assist in keeping guests calm," the man on the other line said. Barry stared down at the raptors for a long moment and then let out a slow breath. 

"Is Outpost Alpha being included in vital research teams?" he asked reluctantly. He knew that this sort of event had been exactly what Vic had been hoping for. 

"Yes. You are to stay with your assets unless your survival mandates that you evacuate the research station." 

Barry hung up the phone and trotted down the stairs. Blue screeched and flung herself at the gates again. 

"I know, I know...he'll be okay Blue. Settle down," he whispered, reaching out to touch her snout. She snapped at him, missing his skin by less than an inch, and so he backed away. 

**_Something bad is awake_ **

_Yes, and I think it is out too._

-x-x-x-x-

The Valley was a mess. Owen wanted to throw up at the sight of the gentle Apatosaurs laying there in the sun, entrails spilling out onto the grass. Some of them still groaned, death not coming to them mercifully. 

"Stop the car," he demanded. Claire immediately parked and he sprinted over to the nearest giant, caressing her head. She looked up at him with hazy eyes, obviously in more pain than Owen could comprehend, and laid her head as much as she could in his lap. 

"Shh, I've got you," he whispered, stroking the strong arch of her brow. She let out a heavy breath and leaned into the touch. Owen knew that it was only a few minutes at the most, but he couldn't just  _leave_ her, not even when the lives of two boys hung in the balance. He barely registered Claire getting out of the car, and when she knelt down on the other side of the Apatosaur's head he could only stare. 

"Oh my  _god_ ," she whispered, and the tears glittering in her eyes almost completely smoothed out the anger that Owen had felt towards her over the Indominous's enclosure. Claire put a shaking hand on the dinosaur's head as well and started to pet her in slow, sure movements. 

"She's hunting for sport," Owen said gravely, letting his hand trail down the dino's neck. Claire bit her lip and nodded once. 

"What do we do?" 

"We have to take her down. I don't even know if it makes sense to take her down alive Claire...she's...she's a monster," Owen murmured, keeping his voice calm despite how panicked he felt to avoid further distressing the dying creature in his lap. The Apatosaur let out a low moan, almost as if it were agreeing with him, and he closed his eyes to avoid tearing up. He heard Claire sniffle quietly and then looked up again. 

"W-we...Owen there's something else about the Indominous," she croaked, looking up at him. She wasn't crying, but Owen could tell that she was just as close to tears as he was. However, he immediately knew it was for a very different reason. 

"What?" he asked despite his instincts begging him not to. 

"She...she's Bonded to someone Owen. We can't just...kill her," Claire bit her lip so hard that a bead of red pooled up against her teeth. Owen stared at her for a very long moment and then let his head sink until it was resting against the Apatosaur's neck. The gentle giant moaned again and he resumed his petting, wanting to offer her comfort in her final moments even though he was ready to scream. 

"Who?" he asked softly. 

"What?"

"Who dammit?! Who bonded to the resident murderous psychopath dinosaur? Because, and I really don't think you need reminding, she KILLED people."

"Vic," Claire choked out. "She's Vic's familiar. W-we found out when she hatched. He was...thrilled at first, but when he realized he couldn't control her he lost interest. He refused to come anywhere near the enclosure." 

Owen stared at Claire for a long moment. "He just  _abandoned_ his Familiar?" 

Claire nodded, her eyes haunted. The Apatosaur chose that moment to let out one last wail, and then she went limp in Owen's arms. He shifted out from beneath her head and jerked his head towards the car. 

"We need to find your nephews. If Vic can't get through to that thing and we can't kill it...things are going to get messy." 

-x-x-x-x-

The boys' tracks ended on a cliff, and Owen had to commend the boys for their bravery. It was obvious that they had jumped; no blood, no shreds of cloth or evidence of a struggle, and there was evidence of movement along the muddy banks below. 

"They jumped. I'll have to follow them on foot," Owen said, pointing to the smears below. 

"I'm coming with you," Claire interjected, folding her arms across her chest. Owen surveyed her briefly and then snorted. 

"No. No way," he replied. Claire simply ripped her pristine white shirt open, revealing a lavender undershirt, and tied it so that it was out of the way.

"I'm ready. I'm going. They're my nephews, I'm not letting you go out there alone while I sit uselessly in the control center." 

"You're wearing  _heels_ Claire," Owen pointed out, ready to scream for the second time in the past few minutes. Claire glanced down at her footwear and shrugged. 

"Sorry I wasn't expecting all hell to break loose before I met with the owner of Jurassic World," she said dryly. "I'm perfectly comfortable in these shoes, I've been wearing heels since I was fifteen years old, and I don't exactly have time to go back to my apartment and change. We've already wasted enough time, let's  _go._ "

And if Owen hadn't admitted to being a sucker for powerful, confident women before, he did then. 

-x-x-x-x-

"Fucking  _pteradons_ , never in all my years," Owen hissed as he rushed a shellshocked Zach and Gray into the Control Center. Claire was quick to follow, looking more determined than ever before to stop the Indominous that was destroying the park. InGen Security had subdued the pteradactyls, dimorphodons, and various other flying terrors that had slaughtered more people than Owen thought even the Indominous would have. "They're not even dinosaurs for fuck's sake." 

"They're not?" Zach asked, voice shaking slightly as he watched the InGen officers filing into the control center warily. 

"Pt-pteradons are flying reptiles t-that existed at the same time as most dinosaurs, but weren't actually dinosaurs," Gray piped up, shaking where he was standing. "They're members of the clade Ornitodira; dinosaurs are in the clade Dinosauria." 

"I don't know what that means," Zach replied sharply. Owen pinched the bridge of his nose. 

"It means that dinosaurs are very, very structurally different from pteradons. Pteradons are a different species than dinosaurs, sort of like crocodiles and birds are different...except pteradons are also closely related to birds...what the hell, this isn't important right now. I'll give you books later," Owen explained, throwing his hands up in exasperation by the time he was done speaking. Claire was glaring at Vic, who looked smug. "Excuse me boys, I have a few psychopaths to deal with." 

"Just the man I wanted to see," Vic smiled, and the only thing that kept Owen from reeling back and punching Vic for a second time was Claire's hand on his arm. She shook her head, a tiny  _not now_ that Owen admittedly needed. His head was a mess at this point, and part of him was itching for a fight that he could actually win. 

"Why's that?" Owen growled, and the other man let out a chuckle as he continued setting up whatever was in his box. 

"Because you and your girls are going to take down the Indominous," Vic said, holding up a camera and harness. A harness that looked as if it would fit a raptor's head. 

"No. No way. You're not sending my Familiar or Barry's Familiar into a fight, and the others just...aren't capable of listening to directions right now," Owen replied immediately, yanking the harness out of Vic's hand. 

"It's sweet that you care about your Familiar Grady, it really is, but at the end of the day she was  _made_ by InGen. Considering the fact that the only proof we've even got that the two of you are bonded is that you say so and she hasn't eaten you yet really isn't saying much," Vic sneered, shoving another three cameras into Owen's arms. "So you and I are going to go to Outpost Alpha. You are going to put these cameras on the little beasts that you've got locked up in that paddock, and we are going to take. It. Down." 

"If she dies, you die. You know that, right?" Owen asked, voice cold. 

"That  _thing_ is not my Familiar. It's and uncontrollable killing machine," Vic retorted, neck flushing darkly. 

"Just what you asked for, right?" Owen snapped. "I hope you know that this," he gestured to the screens in the control center that showed the violence and destruction that the i.rex had caused, "is partially your fault. You abandoned her Vic. You could've made a connection, you could have  _changed_ her, but instead you left her cold and alone in a tiny little box with nobody else around for company except for a few puny humans that weren't you and that gawked at her through some glass. Familiars aren't pets, they aren't supposed to be controlled or trained, they're supposed to be our  _companions,_ Vic. They're a part of us. I wonder what all of this says about you," Owen took a few steps back and let out a shaky breath, face flushed with anger. "But fine," he said, jaw tight at the corners, "you want to kill your Familiar, it'll be done. I can't say I'll be overly upset when you're gone. I just hope Blue gets in the last bite."

With that, Owen was storming out the door to his car. 

"Aunt Claire?" Gray asked, shaking slightly. "A-are we gonna go with him?" 

"He's going to need us Gray," Claire replied, stunned by what Vic was asking Owen to do. "He needs us and we need him. Come on." 

 


	15. Thunder and Lightning

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is sponsored by Kleenex. 
> 
> Just kidding. I have no sponsors. Or money. Or anything other than a mild case of insomnia and an insane desire to write Jurassic World fanfiction. 
> 
> Enjoy.

"Owen,  _no_ ," Barry snarled as the two of them stood outside the raptor paddock. Blue was slightly calmer now that she had Owen in her sights, but there was something wild in her eyes that neither man trusted. "I won't put Echo at risk like that, and you shouldn't even be considering risking Blue."

"Barry, as much as I'd hate to admit it, Vic is right...the girls might be our only chance at taking this thing down," Owen murmured, licking his lips. "We at least need to try and run a distraction until the guests are fully evacuated from the island." 

"And what about us, huh? That monster will eat up Echo and Blue without a second thought, and then we're both dead!" Barry yelled, sliding a hand over his head. "Does Blue even know what you're thinking about putting her through right now?"

"Yes," Owen answered softly. Blue chittered an affirmation from where she was hovering near the entry cage gate, Echo at her side. Charlie and Delta were off in the back of the paddock, shrieking and rattling the bars in an attempt to escape. "She...she wants to go after it." 

Barry made a defeated sound and placed his head in his hands. 

"I waited almost forty years to find my âme-soeur Owen, and I swear...if I lose her tonight, I will haunt your ass into the next life," he finally snapped, yanking a camera rig from Owen. Owen let his eyes fall shut for a second and then he whistled the command that would have the girls lining up in their examination stalls. 

-x-x-x-x-

"He looks ready to go," Vic commented, standing near Delta. Delta was thrashing back and forth, snarling low in her throat with her eyes glued solidly on Vic. Barry gave Vic a smile that was almost as dangerous looking as Echo's toothy maw. 

"That's Delta, and  _she_ always gets what she wants. Especially to eat," he said. Vic made a dismissive sound and put his hand on Delta's head. Owen knew immediately that had she not been locked in, Vic's hand would be gone, and his life would have been following shortly. 

_You should let Delta eat him. It would be easier_

Owen looked up in surprise. Blue hadn't communicated with him very much in the past few weeks, especially not in a sentence like that. Her voice was steelier than usual though, and it sent a shiver down Owen's spine. 

_**You know I can't do that.** _

_But you can risk our lives instead of taking the easiest route?_

Blue was gazing at him, unblinking, and her teeth were slightly bared. Owen had to look away, a lump forming in his throat. 

**_Just because it's the easiest route doesn't mean it's the right one._ **

_You're our Alpha. You should be stronger than this. Pack first._

Owen's eyes grew wide and he took a step back on instinct. Blue's tail was slamming against the sides of the stall, the only visible sign of her agitation, and Owen knew the signs of an impending challenge when he saw them. 

**_If anyone in this pack attacks Vic, they'll be killed. That's not my choice, but it's a fact._ **

_Even me?_

Owen turned to look at the InGen guards that were swarming all over the paddocks, loading up their weapons and checking their armor. He knew what the answer was the second he locked eyes with one of them. 

**_I wouldn't doubt it for a second._ **

_Then it looks like we don't have much of a choice. Play nice for the fat man and kill the monster, or die trying._

Owen lashed out and slammed his hand against the wall. There was a deep ache, the barely healed bone protesting the violent outburst, but he let his head hang and stifled a sob by biting his lip until he tasted blood. 

"I'm sorry Blue," he whispered. She calmed then and let him stroke her face, leaning into the touch slightly. 

**_I would do anything to have prevented this. I hope you know that._ **

_I do. You're a good Alpha. I'm sorry._

**_It's okay. We're all upset._ **

_Let's hunt._

"Okay, let's roll out," Owen managed to bark without his voice cracking. The raptors trilled eerily in unison, and they were led to the loading stalls. Owen paced the outside of the stalls with the chunk of Indominous flesh in his hand. Each of the girls took a deep whiff, pupils dilating as they locked on to the scent of their prey, and when all was finished he passed the flesh to an InGen guard who sealed it into a container so that the scent wouldn't throw the raptors off.

"On my mark," Owen called out, straddling his motorcycle. His gun was a comfortable weight against his back, and as he caught the edges of Blue's excitement he found himself grinning a bit despite the desperation of the situation.  _Hunthunthunthunt,_ it was an endless cycle running through the part of their minds that they shared. The pride Owen felt surge through him when he revved his engine and the girls took off like bullets, immediately ready to take down the monster that threatened their home, was no small thing. He raced alongside them, Blue screeching happily at him. Barry was close behind, his face determined as he navigated his ATV through the jungle after Owen and the raptors, and Owen knew that he was in constant contact with Echo. Owen could feel Blue's emotions settling along his own, as comforting as a warm blanket on a cold day, but no words were necessary. They both knew that this was it. Do or die, and neither of them really felt like dying today. 

-x-x-x-x-

When they found Indominous, nobody was ready. Blue's anxiety spiked back up, and Owen felt himself clutching his rifle a bit more tightly. The girls screeched and snarled at the camouflaged form until she stepped out of the trees, and Owen almost started firing right away. 

But then she started vocalizing. It was so similar to the chirrups and barks that Owen had come to love that he felt his blood run cold. 

**kill. kill them. kill them all.**

The voice was the same as in his nightmares, filtering through Blue's head and spilling into his own. It didn't affect him much, only made him feel like he had gone swimming in the arctic, but Blue...he could feel her mind fraying at the edges. 

_**Blue, Blue stay with me!** _

_Alpha...no, don't want_

**hunt. destroy. mine. MINE!**

_Blue?_

There was a wall up between them now, and the sensation of having the very essence of his soul cut off from him was so intensely painful that Owen couldn't help but scream. He heard Barry screaming as well, but just like that it was over. Five sets of cold, calculating eyes locked onto the group of humans clustered far too closely. Barry and Owen were both trembling, bodies struggling to cope with the emotional and spiritual trauma that they had just experience, but Owen managed to find his voice. 

"Watch your six," he called out as Charlie and Delta seemed to melt into the woods. "Raptors got a new Alpha." 

Chaos.

They tore through the woods, some on foot, Owen on his bike, none of them sure what to do. The InGen guards were firing at anything that moved, and while Owen prayed to any and every god that had ever been mentioned in the history of humanity that they wouldn't shoot Blue or Echo, he knew that he was most likely going to die in this jungle regardless. 

When Barry started yelling, he turned around. Blue was crouched on top of a log, letting out a ferocious sound that Owen had only ever heard from her when she was hunting. He saw the bottoms of Barry's boots and felt his eyes welling up again. 

"Blue!" he screamed, and the raptor's head snapped towards him. There was nothing in her eyes, absolutely nothing, and the sight drained Owen of almost all his willpower. "Get away from him, come on!" he screamed, revving his engine a few times to distract her. It worked, and he raced down the path with Blue hot on his heels. He felt like he was trying to outrun death, but if he were to get killed by any dinosaur, he wanted it to be Blue. At least then he wouldn't experience the pain of losing her again if she was snapped up in the jaws of the Indominous, ripped to shreds by InGen bullets, torn apart by her own siblings as they fought over who the next Alpha would be...his vision was becoming blurry, but he blinked rapidly, unashamed when tears splashed down his cheeks. 

-x-x-x-x-

He could barely process how he got to the control center, how anyone got there really, but he couldn't bring himself to care either. The plan to take down the Indominous was a wreck, but when Claire brought them through the hatchery to get to a safe spot, Owen felt the dam that his mind had built up crack. 

"You  _son of a bitch_ ," he screamed, starting towards Vic. Vic was loading up the last of the eggs into a protective case, and Owen tasted blood on his tongue. "You knew that, that  _thing_ was part raptor, didn't you?!" 

"H-how did you find out?" Vic asked, paling slightly. His hands never faltered though. 

"She took them from me. All of them," Owen seethed, reaching behind his back to draw the knife that he had attached to his belt before they had left the outpost. "She's so strong that even Blue and Echo are under her control." 

"She broke your Bond?" Vic breathed, looking amazed. Owen's fingers curled around the hilt of the blade and his thumb unsnapped the strap that kept it in its sheath. 

"Blocked it, broke it, it doesn't matter. Your goons are out there unloading bullets into my raptors, they might even kill Blue and Echo. I had to watch Blue almost kill my best friend. She c-chased me through the god damn jungle,  _hunted_ me, and all you care about is what your stupid fucking monster did?!" Owen bellowed, but before he could draw his knife he heard a  _click-click-click_ against the tile floor and he immediately grabbed Zach and Gray, shoving them towards the door. Delta tore into the lab like a bat out of hell, screeching as she leapt over the table with all the grace of an apex predator, and landed solidly on top of Vic. Vic screamed as Delta bit down on his neck, and in one smooth motion she ripped his jugular out, spattering the wall with his blood. Gray sobbed quietly, but Owen only stopped to pick him up and tear after Claire and Zach to get to the door. 

Outside, Owen could still hear the Indominous bellowing. 

"I...I don't understand. Vic is dead," Claire whispered. 

"He abandoned her. The bond broke. Explains why both of them are so messed up," Owen answered stiffly, plopping down Gray with what was probably too much force. He didn't have time to worry though, not when Charlie and Echo were slipping out of the shadows on either side of their worn down group. Delta was undoubtedly behind them, which meant that Blue was nearby. Owen found himself suddenly thinking of the little kids he had played with earlier, the little toy raptor slamming down on top of the t-rex. His breath rattled in his chest and he tried to keep himself between his pack and the three people behind him. 

"Charlie, Echo," he called out. "Stand down." 

They simply hissed at him, Echo edging closer than before. 

"Please," he whispered before clearing his throat. He shoved down all the fear, the heartbreak, the need to survive, and his shoulders smoothed out. He held up his hands and locked eyes with each raptor before speaking again. "Charlie, Echo, Delta! Eyes. On. Me." 

They blinked a few times, and then Delta let out a confused series of chirps. All three raptors fell into formation in front of him, and Owen almost wanted to cry. 

Blue arrived in time with the sound of heavy footfall, ever the obedient Beta to whoever (or whatever) her Alpha was. However, when she saw her sisters standing obediently in front of Owen, she barked in anger. Charlie let out a hissing screech and flashed her teeth at Blue. All three of the raptors positioned themselves so that they were standing around the group protectively, and Blue growled. Echo snarled, flexing her claws, but Owen stepped forward. 

"Blue," he said calmly, holding out his hands as if he was about to cup her face between them. "Blue, eyes on me. Come on girl, eyes on me." 

She took a step back and made a soft warning sound. Something thudded against the wall between them. 

"Blue!" Owen said sharply. 

Suddenly, it felt as if he were watching her hatch all over again, except this time it was in his mind. A tiny hole appeared in the wall that had formed when the Indominous took over her mind. Something undoubtedly Blue jammed itself in that hole, wanting to get close to the mind and soul that it shared with Owen, and as soon as it got a good hold, it was ripping the whole thing apart. The sensation of their minds rejoining almost brought Owen to his knees, and he let out a grateful sob as Blue darted forward and started rubbing her cheek against his. She was barking and chirping, claws digging into the material of Owen's ruined clothes, and Owen pressed their foreheads together and let out another sob. He could have stayed there forever, rejoicing in their newly repaired Bond, but then the Indominous bellowed and chaos erupted once more. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so basically, I wanted to avoid a massive retelling of the movie. So I skipped over parts that I couldn't remember clearly, or parts that I thought weren't important to what was going on in my story. 
> 
> Ding dong, the jerk is dead, which big jerk, the stupid jerk! Ding dong, stupid Vic is deaaaaaad~


	16. Maelstrom

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm really spoiling you guys tonight, aren't I? I'm also spoiling myself really. I want these chapters out in the world.

The raptors started to hiss and screech defensively the second the Indominus stepped into the light. Owen grabbed Claire, Zach, and Gray and dragged them to the small souvenir stand nearby, shoving them all the way to the back and hiding with them. 

_I'm sorry. She was so strong._

**_I know Blue. It's alright._ **

_I love you Owen._

**_Love you too Blue. Be safe._ **

He heard Blue rattle off a series of barked commands, and then the raptors launched themselves at the I-Rex, claws digging into pale flesh and teeth snapping at every bit they could reach. She bellowed and tried to shake them off, dexterous arms flinging Charlie off to the side. Charlie bounced hard against the pavement and then stilled, but Owen could see the rise and fall of her chest and so he didn't run out to her. 

"We need more," Gray whispered, curled up half against a rack of teeshirts. 

"More what?" Claire asked, looking at her nephew in confusion. 

"More teeth," he replied. Claire looked out and her lips thinned. 

"What are you thinking Claire?" Owen asked softly. Claire crawled to the front of the stand and pulled out the emergency kit that every store in the park was equipped with. She lifted a flair and smirked at Owen. 

"I'm going to go get us some more teeth," she said, and with that she was dipping out of the hut and racing towards the paddocks. 

"Stay here!" Owen demanded, and both Zach and Grey nodded, eyes wide. 

"No problem," Zach croaked. Gray grabbed his brother's wrist and pressed into his side. 

"I don't know if I like dinosaurs anymore Zach," he whispered. 

-x-x-x-x-

Owen shot at the I-Rex when he could, but it was difficult to get a clean shot off that didn't run the risk of hitting a raptor. 

**_How is she still fighting?!_ **

_She was Whole, but then her other Half ripped them apart. Her mind couldn't fix the tear, but because it was what he wanted she lived. It was her last gift to him. He wanted a killing machine. She gave him what he wanted._

**_So she's still fighting because Vic wanted a monster and got a Familiar instead?_ **

_Yes. She's young Owen. She didn't get the love that we-_

Blue's thoughts were cut off as she was ripped off the Indominus's back and launched against a column. She landed with a sickening thud and Owen's vision blurred for a moment. However, he was still standing and that was all he needed to know that she was still alive. He began to creep towards her, hands shaking slightly, but then another roar shook the main street. 

A very identifiable roar. 

Owen's head snapped around and he saw Claire sprinting towards him, flair in hand and Rexy hot on her heels. 

"Holy shit," he whispered, and then Claire was throwing the flair at the Indominus and Rexy raced by both of them, her tail throwing Claire to the ground as she went. Rexy immediately lost interest in the flair though, going for the Indominous instead. Owen watched as Echo and Delta started hopping across the larger dinosaurs, using Rexy as a platform to launch themselves at the Indominus. Delta went down a few seconds later, accidentally squished between the two massive bodies, and the Indominus gained the upper hand. Her jaws closed around Rexy's neck, but the older dinosaur shook violently and struggled against the hold. Behind Owen, a bark sounded, and then Blue was blowing past him and flying up onto the Indominus's back once more. The Indominus bellowed as Blue's claws scratched around her eyes, and Rexy caught her second wind just as the Indominus began to flag. Together, Blue, Echo, and Rexy pushed the Indominus towards the railing that blocked off the point where concrete met water. The Indominus seemed to realize her fate and let out a wail, but it was too late. She crashed through the barrier, and moments after Blue and Echo skittered onto dry land the mosasaurus was surging forward to snap the Indominus up in impossibly large jaws and drag her into the depths of her enclosure. 

The peace that seemed to settle over the space immediately after made Owen feel off-kilter, but he couldn't concentrate on that when Blue was limping towards him. Her left leg dragged a bit, and there were gashes where glass and claws had cut through her skin, but she was alive and she was his again. He met her halfway and pressed their foreheads together, petting her face with a shaky breath. 

"You did good." 

_She helped._

Owen froze then, realizing that Rexy was still looming behind Blue. Even in the dull, artificial lighting he could see blood glinting against her reddish-brown skin, and he could easily trace the white ghosts of decade old scars that ran across her face and down her neck. Surely the confrontation with the Indominus would leave more. Rexy didn't appear to be exhibiting any signs of aggression however. In fact, she looked more tired than anything, and she roared once before stomping off towards her paddock. 

**_She's going back to her enclosure._ **

_She is old and she already drew her fair share of blood. She wants to go rest where it is safe, and where she will be fed without having to hunt._

**_You can talk to her?_ **

_In a way. We just...understand her. She is the Queen._

**_The Queen?_ **

_Yes. She is the oldest of us all, older than even the prey that lives in the valley. She was here before us, she has seen more than the rest of us combined. Indominus was strong, but her? She is strength itself._

Owen stared at Blue in disbelief. He knew that pack hierarchies existed for the raptors, but he had no idea that they could read so much off of the other dinosaurs. 

_**How do you know that she is older?** _

_None of us have scars like hers._

And with that Blue was padding away, sniffing at Delta. She whimpered quietly, which was enough for Owen to dart over to the other raptor. Delta was breathing, but it was labored and her eyes were heavily glazed. He took a knee immediately and started examining her with steady, gentle hands. She attempted to shriek as he touched her rips, and kicked out hard, slashing a deep wound into Owen's shin that would require stitches at the very least, but he remained by her side. 

"Claire, can you get a vet transport? Delta's hurt bad," he called out. Claire was standing there, pale, dirty, looking completely unlike herself, but she nodded and that ferocity that she always seemed to carry with her shined through again. Zach and Gray came creeping out from behind the amber statue then and started towards Owen. Blue only spared them a passing glance, knowing that they wouldn't hurt her sister further, and then trotted off to go check on Charlie. Charlie was sitting up by the time Zach and Gray reached Owen's side, and so Owen remained by the more severely injured raptor. Echo had taken off the second Rexy had left, no doubt searching for Barry. 

"Is she gonna die?" Gray asked, looking down at Delta with a mixture of fear and concern. 

"No, but she's in a lot of pain," Owen answered. Delta chirped once in agreement and let her head bump against Gray's sneaker. "She wants you to pet her," Owen translated, picking up on the cues his girls had trained him to understand months ago. Gray reached down with a shaking hand and ran his small fingers along her smooth nasal bone, up between her eyes and over her frontal bones. 

"She feels weird," Gray mumbled, resuming the slow, gentle petting motion. "Like..."

"Like leather stretched over squishy rocks?" Owen suggested. Gray laughed a little and nodded. 

"Yeah, pretty much," he agreed. Zach was watching warily, just out of Delta's reach, and Owen gave him a reassuring nod. 

"They're not going to hurt you," he said. 

"They tried to eat us  _and_ Aunt Claire earlier. I had to tase the stripey one earlier," Zach said, voice hoarse. Owen let out a soft sigh.  _  
_

"The Indominus-" he started. 

"I don't care!" Zach yelled, throwing his hands up. "Whatever that thing did to them, it doesn't matter. Blue is your  _Familiar_ and she tried to eat you. Don't you think this whole thing is a little screwed up? And now you're making my aunt run off into the jungle when god knows what other dinosaurs are out to go get a vet truck so that you can save one of the stupid big lizards that tried to make you their dinner like, forty five minutes ago?!" 

Owen and Gray both stared at Zach for a long moment. Something twisted painfully in Owen's stomach and he flinched away from Delta and Blue as his mind flooded with images of his girls lunging for his soft spots. Blue crooned at that and bumped her head gently against his spine.

_No. Never again._

"Owen," Gray whispered, tugging on his sleeve frantically. Owen looked up to see Charlie looming over Zach. His mouth went dry. Charlie was always unpredictable, a bit harder to train than the rest, and she was just as skilled a hunter as Blue. She had the added advantage of being lighter on her feet than Blue, and was more easily camouflaged in the jungle than her more brightly colored sisters. 

"Charlie," Owen said firmly, but he stopped when Charlie simply pressed her snout to the side of Zach's neck. The color drained from Zach's face and for a moment he went completely still, but then he reached up with a shaky hand and cupped Charlie's jaw. 

"H-hey," Zach stammered, patting her jaw once. His hand slid up it smoothly and he scratched the soft spot at the base of her jaw, the same spot that Owen knew would have her purring like a kitten in a few seconds. Charlie chirped, a quickly rising note that sounded far too close to Zach's name for it to be a coincidence, and then started making a soft rumbling noise. 

"Oh, that's so not fair. He didn't even like dinosaurs and he gets a dinosaur Familiar?" Gray whined. 

"What was that about them being stupid lizards?" Owen smirked, and Zach's face flushed. 

"Shut up. You're not as cool as Aunt Claire thinks you are," Zach retorted. 

Gray and Owen both started laughing then, and they continued to comfort Delta until Claire arrived with the truck. 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I present to you Queen Rexy of Isla Nublar, Our Feared and Respected Sovereign and Savior of the Land. 
> 
> Also, Zach's got a Familiar~


	17. Flotsam and Jetsam

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> woo another chapter because sleep doesn't want to grace me with its presence.

Surprisingly enough, Barry showed up shortly before Claire did, Echo screeching and tugging at his sleeves every time his steps faltered. There was dried blood down the side of his face from a gash at his hairline, and he looked ready to drop, but he was alive and he was walking. 

"Barry!" Owen yelled, jumping up and running over to hug the man. Barry winced, but clapped Owen on the back and then returned the hug. "God, glad to see you're alive man." 

"If I wasn't, Echo wouldn't have been here to help with the fight. She told me everything on the way over...where's Delta?" Barry questioned, looking around. Owen gestured towards the fallen raptor sprawled out only a few feet from where the Indominus had gone down. Barry hurried over, Owen and Echo at his heels, and knelt down beside her. Delta lifted her head up and trilled softly. 

"Easy girl, you're alright," Barry whispered, stroking her head and neck gently. He probed her ribs as carefully as he could, smartly standing on the side of her without claws, and winced when he felt the breaks. "She's got a few broken ribs, at least three, maybe more. I don't think her lungs have been punctured though, she'd be halfway to death right now if they had been. I still think we should x-ray her before we do anything else though," Barry said after he was finished examining her. 

"Claire should be here with a truck soon," Owen said, patting Blue reassuringly as she moved to settle down beside Delta. Echo quickly plopped down along Delta's back, carefully avoiding putting pressure on her side, and they both began chittering and barking out soft reassurances to their sister. Charlie lingered nearby, but she was unwilling to leave Zach's side, obviously worried about leaving her other Half now that she had found him. 

"You sent her out there by herself?" Barry questioned, frowning deeply. Owen shrugged. 

"Indominus is down, Rexy went back to her paddock, and there's really nothing else out there to worry about. Besides, Claire is more than capable of handling herself Barry. You should've seen some of the shit she did today. Incredible, I swear," he said, and if he sounded a bit wistful he would deny it up and down. Zach made a strange, slightly disgusted sound and draped an arm over Charlie's broad shoulders. 

"Like you can talk, you stare at girls all the time!" Gray piped up, having resumed petting Delta to keep calm. Her head was resting in his lap, but he had Blue almost wrapped around him. Surprisingly enough, he looked completely comfortable with this. 

"Shut  _up_ Gray," Zach moaned, letting his forehead come to rest against Charlie's neck. 

"I guess that answers the Charlie question," Barry muttered, rubbing the back of his neck. "You ready to deal with teenage angst and sibling rivalries in the pack?" 

"We'll figure it out. I'm sure Zach'll be fine," Owen replied, equally as quiet. It was going to be interesting figuring out the pack dynamic when Zach was still a minor and would most likely be sent back to the States as soon as they were evacuated from the island. "We might have to relocate for a little while though," Owen admitted. 

"You think?" Barry asked sarcastically, gesturing to the rubble all around them. 

"Fair enough," Owen sighed. Just then headlights filtered through a few shop windows (the ones that were intact anyway), and Claire pulled up a moment later. "Let's take care of our girl for now though, yeah?" 

-x-x-x-x-

Barry and Owen quickly unloaded the emergency equipment from the back of the truck, and the first thing Barry did was inject Delta with a high dose of painkillers. Delta cooed thankfully and sagged in relief as the medicine trickled through her bloodstream, no doubt numbing the pain that had to be radiating from her ribs with every breath she took. 

"We're going to have to stabilize her and then move her into the truck," Barry said, shooing Echo and Blue away so that he could have better access to their sister. 

"How do we do that?" Owen asked, rubbing his jaw. 

"There's some leftover plywood behind the Margaritaville from when they built the second bar. Do you think it's strong enough to hold her?" Claire suggested, her eyes wide as she stared down at Delta. There was nothing in her posture that indicated nervousness though; Owen grinned a bit at that. Apparently a tango with the t-rex had gotten rid of any natural fear of predators that Claire had had left.

"It could work, yes. We'd have to be able to carry it once she's on it though," Barry replied. 

"If I can get my hands on a drill and a spade bit, I could drill some holes in it so that you could carry it like a stretcher," Zach said. Owen looked over at him and nodded in approval. It was a good sign that Zach was willing to help out the other members of the pack despite his negative attitude only a little while ago. 

"We can go look in the maintenance shed and see if we can find what you need," Claire said, and with that Zach, Claire, and Charlie were off. 

-x-x-x-x-

Delta was  _not_ happy being moved. Despite the drugs still coursing through her system, it was obvious that she was in an incredible amount of pain as Owen, Barry, and Zach heaved her onto the makeshift stretcher. Gray had backed up once Delta started flailing, unwilling to get scratched up by the sickle-like claws that had left some rather nasty wounds on all three of the men (well, men and Zach) moving the raptor. 

"She's a fighter, that's for damn sure," Barry hissed, wrapping some gauze around a deep gouge in his forearm. Owen nodded, shifting his weight to his left leg to avoid putting pressure on the slash that Delta had given him earlier. 

"Thank the gods for that," Owen replied as he hauled himself into the back of the veterinary ambulance. "Let's get a move on. Zach, Gray, I want you up from with Barry. She's probably gonna start thrashing again when we start moving and I don't want you getting hurt. Claire, your choice." 

He was mildly surprised when Claire hopped up into the back with him and shut the doors. Barry opened the partition and turned around. 

"The rest of the pack looks ready to follow us. Where's the nearest clinic?" he asked. 

"There's one just north of Gentle Giants," Claire replied smoothly, settling down next to Owen but keeping him between herself and the whining raptor. Barry nodded and with that, they started moving. Delta began to flail at first, but once she realized that it caused her a lot less pain to stay still she quieted. The girls barked and whistled as they trotted alongside the truck, Barry driving slowly to avoid jostling Delta any more than necessary. He let out a stream of soft curses, none in English, when they drove by the Gentle Giants Petting Zoo though. 

"Once we get Delta situated, we've got to come back here Owen...the pteradons did a number on the babies," he murmured. Owen swallowed thickly, glad that he wasn't seeing whatever Barry was. He could hear Gray sniffling quietly, and Zach hugged his younger brother to his side. 

-x-x-x-x-

"Nothing punctured, but she has a flail chest," Barry said, pointing to the four fractured ribs just below her shoulders. 

"We're lucky that was a clean middle crack. She could've fractured her spine," Owen sighed. "Think you can splint her?" 

"I'll have to sedate her, and she won't be happy when she wakes up, but yes," Barry answered. "Luckily one of us has veterinary experience, yeah?" he smiled, although it was a bit stiff at the edges. Echo, Blue, and Charlie were all screeching outside the door, having been barred from the examination areas, and they could hear Zach, Claire, and Gray trying to talk the anxious raptors into calming down. 

"You could say that again," Owen said. "Tell me what supplies you need." 

-x-x-x-x-

By the time everything was done and Delta's fractured ribs were carefully sutured to a splint, it was well after two in the morning. Owen's head felt fuzzy and he wanted nothing more than to sleep, shower, and then drink an entire bottle of tequila and try to leave this nightmare behind. When he walked out of the surgery room, hands still damp from him scrubbing them, he found Claire, Zach, and Gray all asleep on the floor, Echo and Blue dozing on either side of them while Charlie acted as lookout. Charlie chirped once when she saw Owen, and he shrugged. 

"She's still asleep," he said, and he could have sworn that Charlie nodded. The striped raptor shuffled to her feet and walked over, headbutting Owen until he was near the group. 

"Not tonight Charlie," Owen sighed, wanting nothing more than to collapse next to the family sleeping on the floor and drift off. "We have to go check on the babies." 

"Damn right we do Grady. None of this sleepy stuff, come on now," Barry said, striding out of the surgery confidently. He had caught his second wind already, and Owen groaned as he started for the door.

-x-x-x-x-

The Gentle Giants Petting Zoo looked like a slaughterhouse, and Owen felt more nauseated than he had when he had come across the slain Apatosaurs. It was obvious that the pteradons had seen an easy meal in the juvenile trikes, stegosaurs, and apatosaurs, and several of them lay dead on the ground. Owen kicked aside a handler's boot, not wanting to know where the owner's foot was, and pushed open the gate. There was an injured trike laying by the gate, and she honked at him as soon as he was within eyesight. 

"Hey there baby," he said, kneeling and running a hand along her frill. She leaned into the touch and groaned. Barry was over in a flash, examining her for injuries. There were deep claw marks on either side of her; something had tried to pick her up, but even as a juvenile she was too heavy for some of the smaller pteradons to lift. Barry made quick use of his field kit, giving her a local anesthetic before stitching up the wounds and lathering them in an antibacterial cream. Several more of the babies seemed to realize that he was going to help them after that, and started herding around the two men. Owen sat on the ground and comforted the more distressed juveniles as Barry provided what veterinary attention he could, stitching, splinting, and soothing as many of the babies as was possible. Some of them were unfortunately lost causes, had bled out too much already, and Barry and Owen carried them out of the pen before putting them down as humanely as they could. 

"I don't want to know what's going to happen to them," Owen whispered after they closed up the pen for the night and walked over to check on the pachys. 

"What do you think will happen to the park in general?" Barry asked, leaning against the railing to watch a pair of pachycephalosaurs slam heads. 

"Honestly? It depends on the death toll, data trails, all that sort of stuff. They could pin the blame on InGen since they created Indominus, but they'd need a hell of a lot of proof. Either way, it's going to be a long time before people get back on this island." 

"What about the dinosaurs? Other than our girls I mean." 

"That's a good question. I'm assuming that, depending on response, handlers might be allowed back onto the island to take care of the dinosaurs until a decision can be made. Maybe they'll turn the entire park into a research facility," Owen said, turning away from the feuding dinos. His head ached, his body was sore, and the first tendrils of sunlight were starting to make their way across the sky. 

"We should head back. I'm sure Claire is going to want to call in the final evacuation, and Delta's going to need tending to," Barry sighed. Without another word, both men started back towards the clinic. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I felt really bad about the baby dinos, but based on what happened on screen, I figured that a lot of them would have been hurt in the pteradon fiasco. It didn't look like the pteradons could really lift some of the larger babies though, but their claws could've dealt some major soft tissue damage. *crying over poor baby dinosaurs*


	18. The P is Silent

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> it's the end of the world as we know it

Day came, bringing with it frantic radio calls from Lowery (since apparently he was  _still_ in the control center and the radios in the clinic worked) and a very grumpy and sleep deprived set of friends. Owen winced as what felt like every part of his spine cracked in protest when he hauled himself off of the linoleum floor and walked over to the radio to keep it from waking Claire and the boys. Barry was passed out on the floor of the surgery next to Delta, who was awake but most likely high as a kite on pain meds and unwilling to shift because of her aching chest. 

"Lowery, calm down," Owen said, stepping outside. It was muggy already, much to Owen's chagrin, but things were about as peaceful as they could be after a fifty foot long genetically modified dinosaur terrorized an entire island. "Now what's going on?" 

"They want to send in choppers for the evac, but apparently there are too many pteradons in the airspace," Lowery repeated, his voice cracking a bit at the edges. Owen stilled. Shit. The pteradons. His mind immediately went back to the babies, still locked up in the petting zoo paddock. He examined the sky, but aside from a few birds there were no pteradons in the area as far as he could tell. 

"So have them send in a ferry. We can't fit four velocirpators on a chopper anyway," Owen replied. There was a surprised cough.

"Four  _what?!_ " 

"Velociraptors. Three of them are already Bonded, and we're not leaving Delta behind. She's pack, she'll be Bonded eventually, and on top of that she's injured and needs to be taken care of," Owen said. 

"Owen, they're not going to let any dinosaurs off the island, Bonded or not," Lowery said slowly. Owen's jaw clenched. 

"Don't tell me what they will and won't do. Call in for a ferry and tell them we've got three people with large Familiars. Now," he said, and with that he swept back into the clinic.

Claire was awake when Owen walked back inside. "What's going on?" she asked, her voice thick with sleep and her face red on one side from where it had been pressed against her arm. Owen smiled a bit at her disheveled appearance and held up the radio. 

"Your guy at the control center is freaking out as usual," he said, putting the radio down on the nearest counter and checking in on Barry and Delta through the window. Delta's tail was thrashing a bit. "Shit. How are we feeding the carnivores?" 

"Oh god. Not even just the carnivores," Claire murmured, immediately perking up a bit. "Some of the herbivores eat fruits and vegetables instead of grasses, so unless they're valley grazers everyone needs to be fed." 

Owen groaned and put his head in his hands. 

"They'll send a ferry. They're asking what supplies we need and how many people are left on the island," Lowery's voice crackled through the radio. Owen's eyes widened and he scrambled for the device. 

"Tell them that we need an ACU team with lethals to take out the pteradons, handlers that are willing to come back and assist in feeding any of the animals that cannot rely on their enclosure's resources, and at least two or three vets," Owen said. He could hear Lowery groan through the radio and he just shook his head. "You know what, screw it. Give me the frequency, I'll talk to them." 

-x-x-x-x-

By the time Owen was done 'talking' to the people on the coast, his voice was hoarse and Blue was pacing back and forth, knocking things over with her tail as it whipped back and forth angrily. However, twenty eight handlers had volunteered to come back and help take care of their charges, along with three vets, a vet tech, and seventeen of the remaining ACU team. It hadn't been difficult to get the volunteers. No, instead it had been difficult to convince the Costa Rican military (who had largely assisted in the rescue) to allow almost fifty people to go  _back_ to the island they had just gotten rescued from. 

"Okay, so we've got a few hours before backup arrives, but we need to get those babies sheltered if we can't get them back to the valley," Owen rasped. Barry nodded in agreement, having taken a break from Delta, who was screeching angrily at both being incapacitated and left alone in the surgery room. 

"Do you think we can herd them?" Claire asked. 

"What do you mean?" 

"Well, they're put into the petting zoo so that they'll be more responsive to and accepting of human contact when they're adults. It's almost impossible to get a vet to examine an animal that weighs over a ton if it won't cooperate, and sedatives are expensive. If we try and corral them and then walk them towards the valley it might work," Claire explained. 

"Wouldn't it be closer to move them towards the river? A lot of the stegosaurs and apatosaurs go there to drink," Barry chimed in. Zach groaned from where he was laying on the floor and tried to bury his head under Charlie's arms. Owen rolled his eyes. 

"The dinosaurs that have taken on the role of parent usually stay in Gyrosphere Valley though. That's where the babies go after dark," Claire countered. Barry hummed thoughtfully and then nodded. 

"How do they usually get the babies to and from the valley though?" 

"There's a back road," Claire smiled, standing up and stretching her arms towards the ceiling. "I won't lie, the babies have always been some of my favorites." 

-x-x-x-x-

The babies were not thrilled to be moved when they were hungry, scared, and exhausted, but Owen wanted them safe before the pteradons remembered that they were here. He had asked Lowery to do a scan for the flying nightmares earlier, and while most of them were fishing along the coast, he was still nervous that a few stragglers were flying over the mainland. He purposely led the group away from the area where the babies that hadn't survived were laid out, and Barry shot him a look. 

"How come they aren't scared of the raptors?" Gray asked as they approached the fence. His eyes were wide as he took in the sight of at least a dozen baby dinos all padding over towards them, honking and begging for food. 

"I'm not sure," Owen answered, turning around to look at Blue, but Blue, Echo, and Charlie were off over where..."Oh god that's wrong," he breathed.

"They're predators and they're hungry Owen. Just because we view them as cute little babies doesn't mean that the girls do," Barry whispered. 

"So, let's get these little guys to safety, huh?" Owen said, clapping his hands together and flinging open the gate to the enclosure. The babies started milling around his legs excitedly, and while it was cute Owen was not thrilled when an 800 pound baby triceratops tried to nudge him for food. He tripped, flipping over the back of a surprised apatosaur, and landed on his back just to receive a curious stegosaur beak in his face. He wasn't surprised to hear everyone start laughing, and he gently pushed the stego out of his face before sitting up. Gray, however, was scratching the back of the offending trike's frill, and both of them looked blissed out. Claire's hand was pressed against her lips, and both Zach and Barry looked astounded. 

"Am I missing something here?" Owen asked, getting to his feet. Gray's eyes trailed over to Owen, and the look on his face said it all. 

"I thought they had to reach full maturity," Barry murmured. 

"The trikes are the hardiest of the bunch," Claire whispered. "If they make it this far, they live." 

"Mom is going to have such a field day," Zach moaned, running a hand through his hair. "She's gonna be like, a million pounds." 

"Ten tons actually," Owen corrected, a wry grin on his face. A thought dawned on him then, and he turned to Barry. "Wait, where are all the handlers who Bonded to dinosaurs?" 

Barry turned around and ran for the radio. 

-x-x-x-x-

It was a hell of a lot easier to round up a group of energetic and cranky baby dinosaurs with twelve people and their respective dinosaur Familiars (and Claire) than it was with just the five of them originally. Martha seemed to be the biggest help (even though Grace was bigger...the babies weren't thrilled to have a Suchomimus nearby), and they managed to get all of the surviving juveniles back to the valley without an incident. Martha bellowed to alert her herd that the young had returned, and the group almost sprinted for cover when several thousand tons of adult herbivorous dinosaur started moving towards them as quickly (although it wasn't really that quick) as they could. Once all of the juveniles were reunited with their appropriate herds, the group started towards the nearest gate, Martha and the bubbling juvenile that Gray had yet to talk about turning away from their fellow trikes. 

"How'd you guys do?" Owen croaked once they were started back towards the clinic. Amanda sighed and ran her hands over her face. 

"It was chaos in the Valley. All of them were freaked out obviously, and when that thing started slaughtering apatosaurs, all I could do was find Martha and hope to god that it didn't fancy either of us for its next kill," Amanda said. 

"The pachys knew something was wrong, started trying to get out of their enclosure. Sheryl had been out with me already, we were supposed to have been going after one of the girls that had gotten out earlier, but by the time we found them they were dead so we headed for a maintenance shed and waited it out," Melissa said. Melissa had been a pachycephalosaurus handler before Bonding to one of her charges, and Owen could only smirk internally at how appropriate it was. Everything from her stance to her gruff voice said that she was stubborn as hell. 

"We got lucky, she never came near where we were," Xi replied, patting her microceratus on the frill. Ayana, one of the other microceratus handlers, nodded in agreement. Their Familiars seemed attached at the hip, much like Blue, Charlie, and Echo. Owen had to bite back a question on pack dynamics. The others said much the same; the Indominus hadn't gone near their enclosures, or she hadn't actively pursued them at least. By the time they made it back to the clinic, everyone felt a little lighter. 

"What about you? You all look like you went through hell," Amanda said. Owen and Claire both faltered. 

"We were there for it all," Owen said slowly. 

"We've got plenty of time for a story then," Andrew piped up. Grace hissed in agreement, lingering by the door to the clinic. She was far too large to fit into the building comfortably. Owen glanced between Claire and Barry and then shrugged. Barry looked towards the surgery but found that Delta was up and moving, favoring her right side but moving none the less. The other raptors were inside, and Barry could tell by the tracks on the floor that they had brought Delta some of the food that they had found. 

-x-x-x-x-

By the time the backup arrived, everyone was thoroughly disgusted with InGen and demanding Vic Hoskins' head on a pike. 

"So basically, it's all InGen's fault?" 

"Partially," Claire sighed, sipping at a bottle of water they had collected from one of the stores on Main Street. The ACU had taken out every last pteradon, and now the handlers and vets were spreading out across the island to take care of their charges. They had been told to get some rest, something that Owen wasn't going to argue with. "The park itself could also be seen as responsible, especially because we didn't demand to know what InGen was doing. We let them continue their work because we needed to endorsements and attendance spikes." 

"You weren't expecting them to make some murder dinosaur though," Owen said, sitting down next to her. Their shoulders brushed, and when Claire didn't flinch away, he counted it as a small victory. 

"We should have pulled the plug the second she hatched, but she Bonded with Vic almost right away, which was strange in and of itself," Claire explained, letting herself sag into Owen's side. "I just don't know how we're going to prove that this was nothing more than an unavoidable accident though." 

"Maybe I can help with that," someone said from behind the group. Heads turned, and Lowery was standing there with an external hard-drive in his hand. "Because I went through all the computers that InGen thought they wiped...I've got  _everything_ you'll need right here Miss Dearing."

When Claire jumped up and hugged the shocked looking worker, Owen had to laugh. He had never seen her so relaxed, and when she looked at him he grinned broadly at her. 

"No jail time for you then, huh?" he asked. She stalked over to him and hauled him to his feet by the collar of his shirt. Owen's eyes went wide; there was something in her face and he was pretty sure she was going to smack him, but when she just tugged him closer and kissed him like it was her last day on earth, he just smiled against her lips and wrapped his arms around her waist. 

"Oh, gross," he heard Gray whisper, but he only held her more tightly and swayed side to side until they broke apart. 

"What do we do now?" Claire breathed, eyes bright. 

"Uh. Stick together I guess. For survival?" Owen suggested. That got a few laughs, and Claire just leaned in and kissed him again. He could hear Blue trilling excited and Charlie barking, and for a few minutes everything felt right with the world. They'd figure out the rest of "what now" after they got back to the mainland, but for a little bit, Owen was content to just bask in the glory of having a beautiful woman kissing him, his friends at his side, and the distant sound of the world's most incredible creatures echoing across the island. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> but I feel fineeeee~ (because there's gonna be a sequel)
> 
> YEAH THAT'S RIGHT. SEQUEL. GET READY. WOO.


End file.
